MovieChat Forums > Hackers (1995) Discussion > Surprisingly accurate representation of ...

Surprisingly accurate representation of programming trance

posted 9 years ago by billwsmithjr
8 replies | jump to latest

when Dade is working to decrypt what is on the disk, the way the code floats, suspended before him as his friends move around him unseen and unregarded, is actually a very good cinemagraphic interpretation of what I have long called programmer's trance.

I have been a programmer for almost 35 years and, when I am seriously working, the program appears in my mind, suspended like a 3D Tree of Life, all of the parts visible to my mind's eye. while it lasts (no more than 6 hours at a time) I do not get tired or hungry and small distractions just do not penetrate. I can go get a soda or go to the pot and, so long as I am not addressed or sidetracked, I can return to my keyboard without losing it. That 6 hours will seem like 2.

Once it does break it is usually gone for the day and I will get no more serious work done. Time to return calls or work on other small and mindless tasks.

To see someone else's vision of what I experience keeps me returning to this film over and over. It just never gets old to me.

Hack the Planet!

[–] acidpluto-1 9 years ago

Agreed!

[–] nickek-1 9 years ago

100%

[–] mojorecords 8 years ago

Great point that I've never heard before. I work on problems in a similar way, when sometimes I just get to the point where I need to step away and focus on something else in order to let my brain process the problem in the background. It's amazing how I can come back to a problem an hour later and take a totally different perspective on it because I haven't been thinking about it for the last four hours.

[–] billwsmithjr 8 years ago

That is more like "sleeping on it". It frees the mind to process the work you were trying, and failing, and upon awaking I often find the answer I was after last night is the first thought in my mind as I awake. This is not the same thing as "programmer's trance" but the two techniques do work hand-in-hand.

[–] mojorecords 8 years ago

I think it's actually two things: 1. I separate myself from the problem, allowing my brain to come back to it with a fresh approach later, and 2. I subconsciously process the problem while I'm not actively thinking about it, which may or may not help facilitate #1.

I'm not quite sure why I originally thought this was so similar to programmer's trance, as how you pointed out, these are two quite different things.

[–] residentevil6901 8 years ago

This is one of my all time favorite movies, love everything about it. The soundtrack made it that much cooler.

[–] CapnKaos 8 years ago

Felt the same way although I no longer code.

I can remember those times being totally in the zone as it was, just coding, knowing the next line and getting more accomplished in a couple of hours than it would normally take me otherwise.

[–] oscardix- 7 years ago

True. But I wouldn't call it "programming trance" for the simple reason it's about concentration and flow. Just pure concentration.

I rarely experience it anymore, mainly because I have 20 *beep* developers, 1 CFO, 1 CEO, 1 CTO up my ass all day long so I never even get to enter the zone.

But I miss it since you are getting *beep* done, and feel great about it. Then you realize that it's 2 am and everyone has gone home, the subway isn't running and you are hungry as *beep* and all the stores are closed since it's thursday.