Programmers:drugs | Hacker News Reader

Programmers:drugs

10 pointsSimulacra9 comments

Dear programmers, what drugs do you take and have they improved, or diminished your coding abilities?

LSD - Helped me understand a lot of the general thoughts behind Python, UNIX, LISP, etc on a deeper level

Ketamine - Similar to LSD, but helped blunt the effects of depression

Amphetamines - Helped me focus, improved my memory, increased productive hours

Weed and beer - Helped me relax and get into a creative mood. Great for socializing, too

Weed and beer - the best way to suppress my programming skills. After just two gulps of beer I'm starting to feel it's effect, but then I can drink 0.5l of vodka before I pass out.

The question itself is idiotic, as well as this answer. If you need drugs to understand the things you have mentioned, you should think about changing career and getting professional advice would help here. I do not understand this valley culture of drugs, hacking body things and all the related stuff. Before starting to "hack body" to understand "on deeper level", you should consider getting medical advice or if you really want to proceed further getting education in medical sciences would help. I always wonder what implications you all will have in a long term, but those people tend not to think about it at all.

Caffeine makes me impatient and neurotic. So I drink non-caffeinated tea instead.

Sugar demolishes me. I'm useless on a sugar high. I compensate with fiber and fat so I can use the energy.

Alcohol, I hate how it makes me feel. Angry and uninterested in actual work. I only drink a beer or two when forced to socialize with drinkers.

I feel that the best code comes out when I'm mellow, but with just enough energy. Too much or too little usually leads to not wanting to do anything related to programming. I guess it's just about keeping things balanced.

Alcohol - It helps me calm down after coding in javascript (ES5), which makes me angry at times . . .

THC, LSD, Psilocin.

Take a dose and read Programming and Metaprogramming in the Human Biocomputer.

It will change your life.

Weed - to refresh and reset my mind once in a while. I didn't find alcohol really good for improving coding abilities. Better avoid it. Cigarette - To keep you awake on deadlines and all. But, it's injurious nature to health made me quit it.

Debugging node.js tends to make me feel like I'm tripping on acid. Does that count?

Caffeine.

Both. It can help me get into "auto-pilot" which is either good when I am efficient or bad when I am procrastinating.

Sugar.

Bad. Hurts your attention span when you're on a "high" and hurts your motivation when you're on a "low."

Reply on news.ycombinator.com