Ask HN: How much of your production code have you written while drunk

None. I don't drink, and if I'm impaired in any way (e.g., sleep deprived or brain-fogged by antihistamines) I don't write code.

Doing otherwise is just plain irresponsible.

Just because I like to check HN whilst I'm at work doesn't mean I don't care about the quality of my output. I don't write code whilst drunk, in the same way I wouldn't expect a doctor to do his job whilst drunk.

I've written code drunk (read: one beer, I'm a lightweight) a few times--mostly for personal projects, but at work occasionally. The results tend to vary: sometimes it's bloody inspired, other times I have no idea what I was thinking. It does seem to help with ``analysis paralysis''; where there are so many conditions and overlapping cases to consider that you can't even begin writing the code. Sometimes forging blindly ahead helps you think through the problem better.

But always check your commit logs the next day. :)

While drunk, probably very little. I used to when I was a lot younger. In fact about 8 years ago I wrote the smallest /bin/sh execve shellcode for x86 I'd ever seen while completely out of my tree. I was amazed it worked.

These days I generally find that a beer is fine, two can give a temporary boost in productivity (as I find it easier to focus) but more than that and I have to stop.

Alcohol's probably the wrong substance to code on. Something like caffeine is probably better.

Interesting question.

Personally I find my work to be fairly similar to a writer's, in that my prime responsibility is to produce something interesting for an audience. Nobody will hold me liable for the means I've used to get there. So, like many authors, I'm not averse to having a few drinks while working late at night.

Production code? None. Random bits and pieces? Quite a lot.

Some of the bits and pieces I wrote while intoxicated did end up in production, but only after careful review, so... that doesn't really count, does it?

all of windows was? see: http://xkcd.com/323/