Why Programmers Love Beer
Many know the 99 Bottles of Beer song, and many programmers have played with the loops of its lyrics. There are countless pieces of code that feature the mesmerizing chant of “99 Bottles of Beer”. Here’s one in Python, for instance:
Based on the amount of programming languages that have been used to convey these lyrics, software developers must have some special kind of love for beer. I’m not a software developer, but I’ve been around many programmers who like to spend their late nights in the office with a slice of pizza and a bottle of beer nearby. Of all the drinks that humans can possibly allow in the office space, with the exception of coffee, beer is probably the most popular one, for late afternoons in particular. Looks like beer has some secret property that makes it a productivity booster, which is never advertised as such, but rather taken jokingly. Heh, you weird programmers, how can you create something of value while drinking beer? That’s what a non-programmer human might think.
Not so. Some programmers have a story that explains the power that beer has on them. I’m not ready to pull a research done by a super-reputable university out of my pocket, so I will tell what I’ve heard from a friend:
The love-for-beer phenomenon is linked to the agility of mind. For someone with a heightened brain activity — that is, for someone with a curious and restless mind — a beer drink quiets the brain exactly to such an extent so as to allow transcending to this optimal flow that helps to shoot pieces of code and experience the state of immersion mixed with quiet enjoyment.
I’ve done some research and found a graph that seems to back up this theory (they call it “The Ballmer Curve”):
The point is: how much beer can one have until the programming skills curve drops? For how many hours will the spike sustain? From what I’ve heard, a beer-driven devotee is capable of shooting great code all night, and the experiences differ. Some of the people I talked to use bourbon/whisky/cognac instead of beer.
All in all, it appears that programmers do not trust the pharmaceutical industry because of the controversies associated with it. No energy booster pharma will ever make it right for people who write code. That’s a common sense logic, because how a drug company can possibly be motivated to come up with a pill that brings this golden state of mind, focused and yet relaxed, to a software developer? Hmm, there might be some motivation, but anyway: pills are just plain boring. Taking a pill is not accompanied by this invigorating surge of a charged boost that comes with beer. Anyway. Some great Friday afternoon coding might still be in store for you… so how about go and get yourself a 6-pack of good beer? :)
Related:
Continuous Problem-Solving Is No Accident
Cognitive Endurance Basics for Software Developers
Remember to Get Up and Stretch
5 Things We Need for Sustainable Performance at Work
Further reading:
This story is based on an earlier article.
