Coding with Music

[Battlehammer]

Never heard of them, but music is music, it's all good. (Except hip hop of course)

[sketch2002]

I find that it varies. Some times when I code I need the music to keep from overhearing other noises in the office or to keep from being bored. However I usually don't actively listen to it, once I do then I focus more on that than my code. If the coding is pretty repetitive stuff then you don't need to concentrate as much so you listen more closely to the music. I usually start the day listening to music and then when I find it lowering my productivity I turn it off until I find the office noises doing the same, then I turn it back on. I don't listen to instrumental stuff, maybe if I did then I'd listen all day, but that gets too boring for me. Might give it a try though. I have a feeling if I listened to a Bach or something of the sort I'd pay that even more attention than the songs I've heard hundreds of times because classical music usually has some sort of a story to it and if you don't listen to it, you get lost and wonder what's going on (purely assumption since, as I stated, I don't listen to it).

[Lilith C]

It depends on how it's being delivered. I can't stand to have headphones or earplugs in that block out anything else. I can listen to music from a speaker at low volume and sometimes bear the set of small speakers that are held near my ears with hooks. I can listen to TV in the background but not on my WinTV without distraction. As for productivity, no one has ever accused me of being productive.

I'm not a programmer but I play one at the office

[Old Ed]

Same for me. I'm a musician as well and end up focusing on the music more than the coding. But for simple tasks that don't require too much brain power I can listen to music.

[Bob1763b]

When I used to be able to listen to music while at work, it would mainly be classical or something along those lines. Just enough to semi-tune out the chatter of the surrounding cube farm where people think nothing of yelling to someone 60 feet away. Now, all forms of electronics (flash drives, IPods, cell phones...etc) are now prohibited. So, I try to resort to ear plugs, but have to keep pulling them out every time someone walks up...which is about every 10 minutes or so. When talking to management about noise issues, I might as well be addressing a sack of hammers. :doh: Bob

[Edgar Prieto]

Snorri wrote:

But it's very expensive $650+ :(

In my opinion the best is this one A new era of music listening begins with the launch of revolutionary Nokia Bluetooth Stereo Headset BH-905 with active noise cancellation. http://www.nokia.com/microsites/bh-905[^]

Edgar Prieto Software Engineer

[AmazingMo]

Snorri wrote:

best you can get from any headset

Wow! I had a look at the product spec for this. It looks impressive. I did not know that there was a whole product category of noise-cancelling headphones for pilots. Mind you, I suspect that all of the products in this category are still tuned to aircraft noise. Someone else posted a link to a Nokia headset that seems to be more of a consumer product. Does anyone actually use these products in an office environment? Before I invest a very large amount of money into a new headset, I would like to know that they really do eliminate words like "American Idol", "Project Runway", "Gordon Ramsay", etc. The other point is comfort. I spent some time reading the pilot product reviews of the Sennheiser, Lightspeed Zulu, and Bose Aviation X headsets. Comfort is important when you're wearing headsets all day every day. My consumer grade Bose QC3 headset is very comfortable, and is easy to wear for 4 hrs straight. Some of the pilot reviews criticised some of the headsets for applying too much pressure on the ears. I'd really like to hear from other CP'ers who use these things. Cheers, Peter.

[Clayton Fox]

I find I can't concentrate on code unless I have music playing in my ear. It is the best way to drown out all the annoying noises in an office plus as soon as you start writing a few lines of code your brain doesn't even acknowledge the music, meanwhile the music is still blocking out the background noises keeping my concentration focused on the code.

[nfiguer]

I must say that I do. But I have found that only certain music makes more productive and makes me think at even faster. For instance, classical baroque music (Bach, Vivaldi, Handel), classical early period (early Mozart, Haydn, some early Beethoven) makes me concentrate more than any other work. Romantic period is not good for me, for this period the music is more psychologically charged and makes my mind derail from work. Unless is Schubert symphonies or chamber music. I also like rock music, but I have found out is no good for work, unless it is very good guitar players like Vinnie Moore, John Petrucci with Dream Theather, or some Rush albums (although they are so good they make me want to listen to their lyrics instead). Even some electronic music like DJ Tiesto makes me more productive at times. I think is has something to do with the amount of notes, colors and textures that makes your mind more productive and concentrate!

[Sadaqat Bukhari]

I think I can't listen music and produce very good results while coding. Because I can't perform multitasking. Its really took long to to make an ALGO while listen the music and doing coding.

[micmanos]

Music tends to act in 3 different ways, depending on the type of music, surrounding environment and difficulty and complexity of a task. If you are in a noisy office environment with fax, phones or perhaps people traffic like a reception or an information desk or something, music acts more like a relaxing and soothing agent. It's nearly impossible to code there so music tends to make it a bit easier. If you hear a familiar music or some grand 80s hit that you so much like. Chances are you're going to start moving your feet under the desk or play drums with your hands (letting go of the keyboard that is). If that happens, well then it's true what they say ..... "If you're having fun then you're not working !!!". If you need to muster every single brain cell to do the task in hand, then you need to be undistracted and probably isolated from any contact with other people so in that case Phones, Fax, IM, e-mail notifications, Other people, Kids, External noises (cars, public works, ... etc) is a big problem.

[Jon_Boy]

My work area is next to a brick wall. On the other side, is several acres of manual assembly lines and robotic machines creating various products. Despite having a brick wall, it's impossible to concentrate listening to all the noises of manufacturing, the forklifts (esp. the beeping when they back up) and the hollering matches that some of the floor workers get into. The music doesn't detract from what I'm doing. I'm just replacing annoying noises with a nicer type of noise which helps to concentrate on my current projects.

"There's no such thing as a stupid question, only stupid people." - Mr. Garrison

[cesar_boucas]

There's a relation between Music and Math. So if you have kids put they to listen it. They can grow with better math skills.

"Go for it!"

[User 4086472]

Excellent point re "music without words". What works for me is Bach, Mozart, Vivaldi, some Beethoven, etc. Seems that the key is what the music stimulates: if it makes you feel like partying, etc, then work productivity is going to suffer. Since I am also a musician (piano), have learn to stay away from music that I am currently playing / studying, as this definitely does distract my attention. Re the 'multitask' comments - the brain is multitasking continually. Example: I can ride my bike, listen to music, sing along, watch the traffic, notice the scenery (hey, pretty girl!) etc. etc. Things go wrong when one input takes over the CPU for exclusive use. Some music definitely does this. PS: since you enjoy guitar mausic, what do you think of Villa Lobos compositions? Regards Howard

[Lost User]

always radio in the background, so you don't hear other noises and you get news from outside.