Ask HN:Where and when do you code?

I'm most productive in a silent, mostly empty room at 2:00am. I'm pretty much worthless as a programmer if I'm in the presence of other people.

If its a technology I'm not great with (most things these days), I usually need to learn as I code. And since I do my best learning in silence, thats what I go for. But programming with a familiar framework, I'm fine with whenever and whatever except silence; need some background white noise. I usually DON'T use music for white noise (I get distracted because I know the songs), preferring instead a lounge, cafe or a 7/10 movie playing in the background.

I've been working on an iOS contract job for the past two weeks. I wrote at home in silence as I knew very little of the features they asked me to implement (using vDSP, MapKit, GameKit, Remote I/O Audio in conjunction). I went to client location only to put finishing touches/last minute addons/testing. (Client Location wasn't exactly geared for a productive developer environment - too much noise, too many distractions)

Turned out to be great app - they loved it and it taught me a lot about iOS, DSP, and my working preferences.

I find being in the right frame of mind is more important than location. I code at my desk, I code on the sofa, I code on public transport, I code at the pub if I get there before my friends, I code in bed in the middle of the night if I cannot sleep.

Sometimes I need to listen to music to block out distractions. Sometimes I don't.

You say that "it seems like some places and times are better than others to the programming mind." That's true, but it's also dependent on the programming mind in question, both in terms of different people having different optima, and individual people having different optima over time.

I like to program whenever I'm not tired. I usually listen to music with headphones on. This helps to block out other people in the office or the tv/other people at home. Programming when tired leads to errors and forgetting where you left off when you have to stop or take a break. I rarely program outside. The glare on the screen is too much to deal with.

I like to sit in cafes and code. It's not as socially isolating and the distractions are easy to block out because they are random and unimportant to me. Distractions at home or the office are much more difficult to ignore.

At a marker board, in a notebook, in the shower, on the bus...the typing part is largely just data entry and debugging.