Should I listen to music while coding?

when I code and I know what I am doing I listen to fast paced music, I prefer music without vocals mostly I listen to fast Hardgroove Techno.

When I am thinking about a problem and trying to get a solution I listen to slower paced coding music (you can find them on youtube). Or just silence. As you mentioned noise cancelling headphones are good, even without any audio, just silence.

But once I have a solution or a specific todo, I go to turbo mode with techno ;)

Here has been my process thus far in regards to music choices while coding.

If I am doing tasks I do frequently, I can listen to any kind of music and be productive. But if I am grokking something rather complex, I will opt for instrumental music. I really like Rachmaninoff and Debussy. I also like vaporwave and dreamwave in these situations as well. Shameless plug If youre asking, "Whats vaporwave/dreamwave?" here is a dreamwave album I released with a friend last year:

ttime.bandcamp.com

There are also moments where I appreciate silence, but its not always an option. With the pandemic my girlfriend is often working from home in the same house as me and a lot of her work is doing zoom calls with clients and verbally walking them through things.

I've been listening to music while working since the '90s. Heavy metal music.

If there's no music, I freak out. I'm also treated to construction noises, street noises (a**holes with aftermarket mufflers, emergency vehicles (fire station AND hospital nearby), barking dogs, etc. "Silence" is not a thing here. I also cannot wear headphones if there's nothing coming out of them just for the sake of trying to block external noises. I never even liked headphones. A major advantage since the apocalypse began is that I'm home and don't need to use headphones.

Some of my most productive algorithms work in university was done while listening to Motörhead.

There's no link to that article you mentioned, but I can say this:

Not everyone is the same.

Well it depends on the mode

In creative mode, I solve complex issues that require all my focus. I shut down my music and give all my brain can give, but I can't maintain this state for 30+ minutes

In productive mode, where I code large chunks using techniques I already master. I don't need that much focus and I love having minimal techno/trance in the background, that's necessary for me to enter the flow state and stay there for hours

I guess everyone has different habits, some might perform better with music, others not so much.

I myself need silence, hence I'd never work in a crowded room, two people tops, no phone calls or phones ringing, no music.

Allow me to chime in here (pedantically, I admit):

Trying to solve every algorithmic problem in O(logn) is not only the trait of a good programmer...

That statement is a bit misleading. I'd say a good programmer knows how to spend their time efficiently. It's not like solving performance problems with O(log n) doesn't usually come at a cost.

I'd argue in many cases our everyday code doesn't pose relevant performance issues, and thus doesn't need any optimization.

If optimization is required, most of the time we need to find a solution that is good enough, which in many cases is still far from O(log n).

After all, optimization is usually expensive.

Thanks for the insightful little post! 👏🏻 While listening to music does indeed expend energy, I still listen to music while working. Instrumentals and music with little lyrics work great for me when I am trying to concentrate on the task at hand. Songs packed with lyrics will distract me BIG time, so I opt to steer clear of them while working! 😅

This is personal. I'm getting into the 'zone' more easily by listening to music without vocals. Especially music (sets) I've already heard 10 times plus. If the song/set is new or including vocals, it does distract me indeed. Like

I have tried coding with melody heavy music in the background, but that didn't work for me. I would always focus more on the music than on the coding. Now I'm listening to lofi. The steady beat keeps me focused whilst not being a distraction. The music blends into the background and sometimes I don't even realize that it is even there.

Cool that you had handwritten lyrics! Most of the songs I listened to were in English which isn't my native language so listening what was said came at a later age :P.

During coding songs with lyrics and sudden noises (AC/DC :P) are distracting. But what helps me concentrate more are more monotonous (in a good way) albums. Such as for example "Tripping with Nils Frahm".

Also what is interesting is the research that shows: "A moderate level of ambient noise is conducive to creative cognition."

It's from the website coffitivity which has options to set background noise just as if you are in a cafe.

Agreed!

Some people spend years coding to music to then realise how much productivity they have irrecoverably lost.

Ambient instrumental music, however, can be OK for some people, but nothing that grabs attention.

Thanks for this post.
When you are in a noisy environment it is true you can become less and less productive.
I used to do programming around 4h am when everyone is sleeping and the world around is quiet and I solve problem quicker, with more efficiency at this time.

But we can admit that people are little bit different, that can happen a background-music help someone else be productive 😉. But in my case I think it's quiet environment, like that I can put all my focus on the problem.

Music is only needed, for me, when noise from collegues is worse than vocals from songs

I can't have it too quiet so I do. I do have to be careful that my "jams" are playing while I'm in the middle of something otherwise I will either get too distracted or have to take a break until the song finishes.

I listen to soft EDM/ Eurobeat / Fusion mix at a low volume while coding, Since I work at home, It helps keep me focused by acting as white noise. I usually avoid new unknown songs or songs with meaningful lyrics because then it isn't in background anymore and I am listening more than coding. Therefore its an old playlist running at loop.

Whatever makes you feel comfortable. Sometimes I code while watching a movie or playing a video of any kind just having something playing in the background helps me relax, but most of the times I can't have any distractions when I'm completely focus.

I personally can't work in silence. While I will usually turn on some Coheed or Tesseract, if I'm working on something that I keep getting stuck on, I'll turn on some instrumental music and keep going (Animals as Leaders and lofi are what I like to listen to personally).

For me it's classical for thinking stuff, death metal for rote stuff and The Cure for debugging. ;) I know some people who blast their music while coding, but I just can't do that. It has to be very low volume, but I like it better than silence. YMMV.

You can use binarual beats to increase productivity of your brain. Base on the situation you can use Gamma waves binarual beats for highest brain function and problem solving or you can use alpha waves binarual beats for more focus. Just read about brain waves and use the best binarual beats. Or either you can use 432 hz frequency(frequency of nature) it's very relaxing and good for increasing brain function.
But if you want to use your highest brain function, just use Gamma waves binarual beats when you are coding and every 30 minutes, relax on bed and play 432hz music for 10 minutes. It's really affect your brain function.
You can find binarual beats and 432hz frequency in YouTube.

I can't go with silence, I need to use something to keep my mind here. So I developed a library of instrumental math rock, fusion jazz and other things that have no lyrics at all so I don't listen too much.

Yay music. I love music. I play it, I feel it, I breath it. But sometimes music makes me less productive. For instance, anything with words or instrumentals from my favorite songs, I cannot listen to and code, because my mind focuses on words and familiar melodies. I have found instrumental movie sound tracks to be my bread and butter when I need to focus coding for hours at a time (or 25 mins at a time if I remember to turn on my pomello timer ha!). Here are some of my favorites: Tron Legacy by Daft Punk, Interstellar Movie Soundtrack and Social Network Movie soundtrack.

I prefer listening to unfamiliar music when I'm coding, rather than stuff I'm really into - it's less distracting. I find Music For Programming quite good for suitably odd, wierd, droany music to code to. I also really like the design.

I'm on and off about music. When I do tasks that don't require too much brainpower and are in fact more "grunt" work, I tend to put something close to my gym music, power stuff that gives energy and rythm.
Otherwise, I go between nothing and some classical music to inspire some creativity.

Since I started working from home I've stopped listening to music, but it was an invaluable tool when I need to concentrate with coworkers around. Also, I found that if I was really concentrating on the problem the music would "disappear" when I got into flow.

Hey , at least for me , I work better when I listen to chill music either indie or just acoustic , it helps calm me down and for me personally I am very productive when I’m very calm . So I guess that’s why indie and acoustic music helps boost my productivity .

I have different playlists for different coding situations. For the stuff that I could do in my sleep, I definitely jam out. For more intense work, something like Brain Food on Spotify or some binaural beats is better, lofi is also a huge go-to for me.

Biologically yes, you shouldn't do it, to concentrate your effort in a single sensory direction (source: course of Cognitive Neuroscience at university). Personally if i listen to something music/podcast i can code for many hours straight without being tired. However when the task is mentally hard, the total complete silence is the way for me.

I listen to music when I code. Whether I am learning something from documentation or just spending the day working on a project. I normally listen to heavy metal instrumentals. But occasionally I'll want to listen to something with lyrics.

There are two types of music I prefer on work days.

1. Stuff I can sing along - This is during the breaks when I need to calm down and distract myself from the work.

2. Stuff I can't understand - This is when I code. It it great for concentration I believe. Wanting to sing along can be distracting for me if I really need to focus. So I prefer songs in other languages or fast paced raps which are hard to keep up with.

Listening to music is an essential part of my work. If not for any other purpose, it's great for noise cancellation.

I used to like silence while writing code but sometimes I listen to music or binaural beats. I figured that constant notifications in Slack is gonna distract me anyway so I'll just keep listening to music :)

I would say don't, because I find it distracting whole coding. But it can be that ur more focused.