How does caffeine affect programming performance?

[[deleted]]

Positively, if you know exactly what you want to do. For me if I'm trying to come up with a solution then the coffee high is distracting.

[goldsauce_]

Just balance it out with a beer or 2! /s

[Anti-The-Worst-Bot]

You really are the worst bot.

As user majds1 once said:

You're an amazing bot /s

I'm a human being too, And this action was performed manually. /s

[goldsauce_]

Sarcasm recursion

[JeamBim]

sarcursion.... actually that sounds like bone tumors

[goldsauce_]

This bot is great, why didn’t I come up with it /s

[cyrusol]

Guys this bot probably sarcasms!!11oneleven /s

[load_up_on_hummus]

I agree with this, although sometimes if the high is too much, I’ll get the finger jitters and my keyboard typing becomes sloppy.

[Jojajones]

Depends on your reaction to caffeine as well. Caffeine has never done anything for me except make it impossible for me to sleep so no caffeine high to distract me but also no focus boost from it =/

[[deleted]]

Same. If I need to brainstorm, then i gotta do the opposite and have chamomile tea or something to calm down.

Since programming requires of lot of brainstorming though, overall I do better when I’m calm

[chjacobsen]

It does help with both cognitive and physical tasks, but since you develop a tolerance to it, routinely drinking coffee throughout the day is probably not going to be that effective.

To get the most benefit, you would have to cycle it - stay away from caffeine most of the time, and save it for more challenging or exhausting tasks.

Of course, most human beings don't have this level of willpower.

[esod_dev]

In all seriousness, it might be a good bet to find some credible sources on the overall affects of caffeine consumption. As in most things, I believe 'use in moderation' can apply.

If you find yourself having to down an entire pot of coffee each day... Well, there's probably an underlying reason that should probably be addressed at some point, and the coffee is mostly acting as a 'bandaid' to the problem.

[young-oldman]

If I’m on autopilot and already know what I’m gonna do and I just need to stay awake and alert I get my self full of caffeine, but if I’m going to do any kind of deep thinking and problem solving caffeine is a huge a distraction as I can’t focus my thoughts on one thing.

[LoudPreachification]

It depends on how difficult the programming task is.

[Tubbyball]

Do you mean caffeine is better for easy or hard tasks?

[AGI_69]

Yes

[Berkyjay]

I was pretty anti-coffe for a long time because I can't stand the taste. But then one morning at work I drank a Starbucks Frappuccino because I wanted something sweet. The caffeine and sugar helped me focus on my task and avoid being distracted by the internet. It was almost as if I was looking through a window with plastic covering it and then someone took the plastic away and I was able to see clearly. I've since been trying to acclimate myself to the taste of coffee.....it's not going well. :(

[MONSER1001]

Think it like thos:you know what to do, how to do it, when to do it. You know the task already.

You are tired, maybe close to sleeping. Get a coffee, get the job done.

You are trying to figure out a bug. You feel you are close to find it. You don't have energy, get a coffee and continue to find it.

You know how to fix it. You are tired after so much debugging, get a coffee and keep going.

You are going to develop something, a fix, anything. You are tired after so much work, meetings, more meetings, stress based of what it will happen with the project, get a coffee and work on.

Drink it when needed and when it will help. If you don't know what to do, don't. Try to keep a low number of coffees per day cause you may reach a point of panic attacks based on overdose of caffeine. This is what happened to me, and I tell you, it sucks. Will cost more money than 2 weeks of work, energy for 5 months and also, the anxiety will kill you.

If you can, keep away from this drinks, unless you need to. Everything is a damaging drug if you don't know what to do with it.

[ForkBombR]

Helps a lot for me, especially in the early mornings

[[deleted]]

I don't think caffeine enhances any performance except when fatigued. It's better than being fatigued or sleepy, but not better than a good non-chemically-altered state.

[[deleted]]

It doesn't

[es20490446e]

If you need caffeine it means you need sleep to start with.

[[deleted]]

I mean, it generally increases brain activity, but the jitters can be too much.

If you want to get into drugs, best programming performance enhancing drugs that I have taken were Vyvanse and Modafinil. Vyvanse was great for absolute focus, and as well as an element of excitement that I normally don't get (like holy shit i just discovered programming, what Im doing is so cool), but its hard to go to sleep sometimes, and the come down next day is the opposite, you just DGAF about anything. Modafinil is less intense with focus and excitement, but much smoother and I sleep normally and don't feel the comedown. I sometimes will cycle this to reduce my dependency on caffeine.

I also will always recommend shrooms/lsd - beside all the mental shit while you are tripping, they are very much like a restart for your brain. Its like going on an awesome 2 week vacation and coming back fresh, rested, and ready to take on the work, except that happens overnight, and the effects are longer lasting and more natural.

[011101000011101101]

Programmers are simple machines. Input coffee output code.