Music for Programming - <AUTHOR> http://musicforprogramming.net/ <comment><USER3> I've listened to Brain.fm since this past February, and it is truly amazing.

They have Focus, Relax, and Sleep, but I've only ever listened to Focus. It's like this steady stream of some kind of electronically generated music that changes each 30 minutes. I set it to 2 hours, and then I usually take a small break when it ends. I'll turn it on and literally get into the zone immediately; writing line after line of code without even realizing how quickly I'm working. It's like getting on a train to the Matrix or something.

Link: [http://brain.fm/](http://brain.fm/)

<comment><USER4> Co-founder of brain.fm here. Thanks for the love!

Here's an exclusive deal on the lifetime membership for the next 24 hours.

It's a $29 deal (or 80% off) for the lifetime membership. Our best offer :)

Link: [http://brain.fm/HN](http://brain.fm/HN)

<comment><USER5> Hey you coming out w/ an android app any time soon? Would love to try the relax while I sleep. Just bought the pro deal.

<comment><USER4> Yup! 80% done, sprinting to release it.

<comment><USER6> Whenever I hear a programmer say "80% done" I think of the contractor's version: "two weeks", from the old '80s movie Money Pit:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70xGgWIw5tU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70xGgWIw5tU)

<comment><USER7> The joke at my old work was 'basically done'. Meaning they spent a weekend equivalent on a prototype. Management heard 'done' the rest of us heard 'not production ready'.

<comment><USER8> Here is, 'done, just needs testing'.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> Does anyone know of any actual conclusive studies in this area? Like most here, I have my own rules and preferences. The main rule seems to be it must be familiar, in fact it's best if I've heard it a thousand times already. But there are only three kinds of music that work for me:-

1\. Music I first got into during my teenage years when I was sitting up all night coding assembler (OK, I admit it, Pink Floyd) works well because I think my mind is conditioned in an almost Pavlovian way to go into programming mode when I hear it;

2\. Ambient EDM works well because it is very repetitive and doesn't have any strong lyrical structure - my trouble is, as an old fart, I find only a very small subset of the vast range of EDM that I actually like.

3\. A certain kind of loud, wall-of-sound rock music which is very heavy on distortion with subdued vocals works well _but only at night_.

Received opinion says classical music is good for cognitive tasks, and I've tried over the years but never good great results.

<comment><USER10> I can only speak from the angle of memory/attention research, but a couple lines of study struck me.

1\. Irrelevant speech / sounds tends to reduce memory capacity for the task at hand[a].

2\. People with ADHD self-stimulate by, e.g, squirming. Music can help them with attentional tasks by providing stimulation [b].

Overall, I'm not that familiar with studies specifically on music, but I'd guess that it's a trade-off between arousal (e.g. rock music or something to pump you up) and dividing attention. Music could also set a context (e.g. put you in programming "mode"), which tends to have a small positive effect on performance on a number of cognitive tasks.

[a] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irrelevant_speech_effect](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irrelevant_speech_effect)

[b] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low_arousal_theory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low_arousal_theory)

<comment><USER11> I have ADHD, and it's really difficult to describe to people how the "self stimulation" works.

It's almost like I need to keep part of my brain busy so the other "quieter" part can work.

Music, driving, pacing around, and to a lesser extent fidgeting or tapping can all "placate" that part of my brain so the other can actually do work. I'll even do things like play music while listening to a talk or presentation while working, because without the music keeping me "busy" I just can't focus on the topic of the talk.

<comment><USER12> I think that explains my taste in "focus" music. Most of the "focus" playlists are ambient or classical. The ambient stuff is just there; it doesn't really engage my brain. It's like traffic noise. Classical is... I don't know, too structural? I find it distracting. My brain switches on when I'm listening to stuff that's challenging - dissonant, rhythmically odd, fast paced, changing tempos. But I've thought the same thing, that kind of music engages some part of my brain so the part that's more linear-thinking can get on with business uninterrupted.

So my "focus" playlist is post-bop Jazz with things like Chick Corea (especially Three Quartets), Steps Ahead, Keith Jarrett's Standards Trio stuff, early Wynton Marsalis. Some Coltrane, but not so much his meditative stuff - things like Giant Steps make my brain engage.

I can't multitask like that though - I can't have two auditory sources. When I'm talking to people, I have trouble picking out voices when surrounded by a crowd, or with several people talking at once. It's like I'm trying to make sense of all the background noise and can't pick up what's being said directly to me.

<comment><USER11> It's very similar for me. My music is EDM like many other coders, but it's more live performances, as they just don't end. Generally i'll grab a playlist of like 3 or 4 live shows from the same producer and i'll play them back to back.

But the multitasking thing is a bit different for me, it's more one-sense-at- a-time for me. My wife has laughed at me before because she'll come home and i'll be watching a youtube talk on one screen, playing music over the speakers, and programming something mundane all at the same time, but if 2 people are talking at the same time I have trouble hearing anything.

<comment><USER13> this. I find stuff like brain.fm too minimal, and not engaging enough, personally.

Interesting how everyone has a personal threshold of not engaging enough / too engaging.

I wish there was some reliable resource I could go to to find 3-5 hour blocks of edm type music.

<comment><USER14> ww.mixcloud.com/discover/edm/featured/

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> For me I find SomaFM good for working

\- [http://somafm.com/player/#/now- playing/missioncontrol](http://somafm.com/player/#/now-playing/missioncontrol)

\- [http://somafm.com/player/#/now- playing/defcon](http://somafm.com/player/#/now-playing/defcon)

\- [http://somafm.com/player/#/now- playing/cliqhop](http://somafm.com/player/#/now-playing/cliqhop)

<comment><USER16> Or:

        alias dronezone='mplayer http://somafm.com/dronezone130.pls'
        alias groovesalad='mplayer http://somafm.com/groovesalad130.pls'

(etc.)

<comment><USER17> Requires an explicit '-playlist' tag on recent (?) mplayers, otherwise it aborts due to potential security issues.

        alias dronezone='mplayer -playlist http://somafm.com/dronezone130.pls'
        alias groovesalad='mplayer -playlist http://somafm.com/groovesalad130.pls'

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> I recently discovered the work of Laurie Spiegel, whom I now have great respect for. My personal favorite song by her is the opener from her only album "The Expanding Universe":

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rN3uYELX8iQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rN3uYELX8iQ)

Regardless of whether you fall in love with the music, it's worth knowing about her as a pioneer of computing. And yes, she also happens to be a woman.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurie_Spiegel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurie_Spiegel)

> Best known for her use of interactive and algorithmic logic as part of the > compositional process, Spiegel worked with Buchla and Electronic Music > Laboratories synthesizers and subsequently many early, often experimental > and prototype-level music and image generation systems, including GROOVE > system (1973–1978), Alles Machine (1977) and Max Mathews's RTSked and John > R. Pierce tunings (1984, later known as the Bohlen–Pierce scale) at Bell > Labs, the alphaSyntauri for the Apple II (1978–1981), the McLeyvier > (1981–1985).

<comment><USER19> Wow! Excellent. Thanks

</comment></comment><comment><USER20> A few other redditors and I maintain a playlist of Downtempo (mostly) non- vocal electronic music specifically targeted towards developers. It's an open playlist so feel free to contribute!

[https://open.spotify.com/user/fgutz/playlist/3dBiKJSoAQ6msoY...](https://open.spotify.com/user/fgutz/playlist/3dBiKJSoAQ6msoYzl99wp2)

spotify:user:fgutz:playlist:3dBiKJSoAQ6msoYzl99wp2

<comment><USER21> is there a way to see the list without logging in to spotify? Non-vocal electronic seems like my cup of tea for when I'm working.

<comment><USER22> CSV of all the tracks: [https://fzak.pl/FILEZ/codersplaylist.csv](https://fzak.pl/FILEZ/codersplaylist.csv)

Youtube playlist of some of the tracks: [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOEg5uEc0bD0wwIEEKTNc...](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOEg5uEc0bD0wwIEEKTNcoii- II_zG0Et)

<comment><USER20> This is awesome! thanks for doing this!

Also I should note that because it's an open playlist sometimes some music gets in that I personally don't agree should be on there but I can see why maybe someone else would put it there. I don't aggressively police it the list but once in a while I'll remove something that obviously doesn't fit

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> I have two rules when I'm listening to music while programming:

1\. My favourite genres are K-Pop and Industrial – it helps that they are also very energetic genres — and my rule is that I can only listen to them while programming. Helps to really put me in the "you're working now" space (thanks to Julian Shapiro for this tip)

2\. I pick one song and repeat it for the entire day, sometimes for several days in a row. I've listened songs in the above genres so much that the lyrics don't become much of a distraction, including new ones.

<comment><USER24> Number 2 sounds like hell

<comment><USER25> You can give it a try with the amazing Infinite Jukebox! Here's a perennial favourite, "Call Me Maybe": [http://labs.echonest.com/Uploader/index.html?trid=TRORQWV137...](http://labs.echonest.com/Uploader/index.html?trid=TRORQWV13762CDDF4C)

(I will not be held accountable for your resulting lapse into total insanity after 20 minutes or so.)

<comment><USER26> Omfg is that awesome! °-° Can i also Upload or use my own Files? Or is this somewhere Open sourced?

<comment><USER25> Looks like they removed the "upload" button: [http://labs.echonest.com/Uploader/faq.html](http://labs.echonest.com/Uploader/faq.html)

And it doesn't appear to be open source, sadly.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER27> This is run by a friend of mine, John Datassette (not real name). He's a bomb game dev, squirty electro peacock and all round Little Lord. Check out his fiendishly hard game "Space Rubbish":

[https://datassette.bandcamp.com/album/space-rubbish-game- ost](https://datassette.bandcamp.com/album/space-rubbish-game-ost)

I made one of those mixes. Guess which one and i'll fax you some handmade congratulations.

<comment><USER28> Wow! The Datassette album is one of my favourites - Minus Fourteen is the first song on one of my favourite work playlists.

<comment><USER29> I have bumped into his name so many times , but never once though it was a made up name ! Is he a game dev himself ? Can I ask for the list of games he made , would love to check them out .

<comment><USER27> Yeah, he puts all his game stuff out here [http://slakinov.com/](http://slakinov.com/). But I think his server is still down after Hacker News crushed it, ha.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER30> I have my own "playlist" for programming and studying. I've found the key to not being distracted by the music is to avoid anything with singing and stick with stuff that's already familiar. My choices include a lot of ambient electronic and classical music. Oddly, metal also seems to work when the lyrics are completely indecipherable growls and screams.

<comment><USER31> Music in a foreign language works for me almost as well as instrumental music. If I hear Finnish, I somehow must listen to the words, but even though I'm proficient in English, I can just let the words go by without thinking about them.

I'm sure this phenomenon has a name, but I don't know it. Another aspect is that I can read English (focusing on that) and listen to Finnish at the same time, and I'll remember both what I heard and what I read. Doesn't work the other way around, or if both are the same language.

</comment></comment><comment> bit-shifter I've been a long time fan of the music produced by autechre.

When I really need to isolate myself from the outside world to concentrate on a difficult problem, the go-to choice is Incunabula.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incunabula_(album)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incunabula_\(album\))

I'm not sure whether it's my absolute familiarity with the album, or that fact that it bears listening to on repeat.

<comment><USER32> Have you listened to Warp Records more than just the Autechre releases (which are of course superb)?

Every single album in the Artificial Intelligence series (including the first Autechre) are genre-defining classics.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_Intelligence_(serie...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_Intelligence_\(series\))

<comment> bit-shifter Yes, Warp have influenced my music tastes a great deal. ae, BOC, plaid, aphex twin (and his many guises), squarepusher and µ-ziq are all staples.

Another album I listen to a great deal whilst working:

[https://warp.net/releases/blech-ii- blechsdottir/](https://warp.net/releases/blech-ii-blechsdottir/)

That said, I have varied taste, grind-core, industrial and doom all feature in the mix.

edit: added plaid - can't believe I missed them out, as they're one of my favourite artists.

<comment><USER32> Plaid's new album The Digging Remedy worked for me pretty well, even though it had a bit of mixed reviews.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER33> I really, really recommend [https://mynoise.net/](https://mynoise.net/) instead of music. They repertoire of sounds is amazing. You can even customize every soundscape to your liking.

One of my coworker has a real bassy voice that overlaps over music in my headphones. With that website I can easily create a soundscape that cover his voice and all the surrounding noises.

It's free too!

<comment><USER34> Calling musicforprogramming music in the sense that you're probably imaging isn't quite accurate. It's much more of a soundscape.

</comment></comment><comment><USER35> I really like to listen to dub techno while programming. It is repetitive, no vocals, long songs (8-10min), relaxed vibe with not a lot of going on, yet very nice and ambiental.

<comment><USER36> I'll try that I guess.

For now I use trance, anything that is happy or energetic, harmonic and wih no words.

I have a long playlist that someone created on Spotify with this kind of trance.

<comment><USER37> For trance (or a lot of other electronic music genres), [di.fm]([http://www.di.fm/trance/](http://www.di.fm/trance/)) is nice for when you can't be bothered to select a playlist etc.

Edit: [ah.fm]([http://ah.fm/player/](http://ah.fm/player/)) is also good for trance.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER38> After years of visiting this website to listen to good remixes while I write code I feared the day when someone would link it to HN because I knew before hand that it would make it inaccessible. Go damn it people! Y U Do Dis ಠ_ಠ

<comment><USER39> I think it was posted on HN before. I think I recall that was how I first found it.

<comment><USER40> Just a few times: [https://news.ycombinator.com/from?site=musicforprogramming.n...](https://news.ycombinator.com/from?site=musicforprogramming.net)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER41> I have favorited about a month worth of continuous listening on Soundcloud [1] but I hardly ever listen to it because there's something new presented in my Stream every day. The trick to Soundcloud as a steady source for programming music is to follow other users (for programming music you'll want mixes instead of tracks, so follow DJs instead of musicians), but it does take some time to build your Following list and it also takes some commitment to scan through the music every day. When that becomes a distraction, I just turn on SomaFM as mentioned by others [2] where my favorite stations are Space Station Soma, Deep Space One and Illinois Street Lounge.

[1] [https://soundcloud.com/wiredearp/likes](https://soundcloud.com/wiredearp/likes)

[2] [http://somafm.com/](http://somafm.com/)

</comment><comment><USER42> I like to listen to stuff like minimalistic Detroit techno mixes from people like Jeff Mills or Robert Hood. Loopy simple techno that slightly changes over the course of minutes while blending in and out of the previous and next song in a subtle way. Yet it's quite hard and energetic compared to most Berlin styles of minimalistic techno.

Lately I've been picking up on retro Wave kind of music, I see Com Truise is on the list as well. It's slightly less annoying for other people since there's still something like a melodic component but it doesn't have too much of a build up to a massive drop thing that most EDM has. It rather continues all the time in rhythm.

<comment><USER43> I really get inspired by the ideas of Detroit techno that they put into the music. Especially Jeff Mills, he really is an artist in the broadest meaning. It is curious that Detroit techno never really became popular music for the programming scene, since it's themes are related.

>Detroit techno is also scary music, scary precisely because its unforgiving repetition reminds us of our immersion in remorseless mechanised, computerised systems. Detroit fetishises this relationship: take drugs, jack your body to the rhythm of the machines

From Techno Futurism (1998) [http://www.harikunzru.com/art-and-music/jeff- mills-techno-fu...](http://www.harikunzru.com/art-and-music/jeff-mills-techno- futurism-1998)

<comment><USER32> Detroit techno was extremely popular in Europe, still is. We wouldn't have Berlin in its current cultural state without the Detroit stars. How it never became a thing in US is another question, where I can just guess the real reasons. Maybe dance music needed a whitewashing before it became a trend.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER44> How great. Can't wait for "Music for tech-savvy young adults with interest in retro games" or "Music for Asian women aged 35-45".

Before these industry-disrupting services emerge though, I guess I'll just stick to music that I like.

<comment><USER45> I appreciate that someone else made this comment. I've always just listened to music I want to listen to. Any attempt to use "focus" music or whatever is just annoying. I know people don't like the cynicism but honestly this stuff is pseudo-science at best.

<comment><USER34> These tracks work like a charm for me. Im the type to be easily distracted by actual music, so the kind of ambient soundscapes this provides are much closer to a pleasant white noise or rainfall. It's also trained my brain in a way to flip into programming mode

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER28> I was having a conversation with someone about this yesterday. I actually have two different modes when programming: Theres times when you're just trying to get a bunch of shit done and there it's mostly about getting you amped up and to stop you from getting stuck on trivial shit, and there's times when you have to think about something in super super detail and then distraction is a killer. And I have different music for each.

For the former, I have stuff like this:

[https://play.spotify.com/user/infralite/playlist/0FUJY4gSuBO...](https://play.spotify.com/user/infralite/playlist/0FUJY4gSuBO9S0LCDonOBl?play=true&utm_source=open.spotify.com&utm_medium=open)

and

[https://play.spotify.com/user/infralite/playlist/1SpbGdZGmno...](https://play.spotify.com/user/infralite/playlist/1SpbGdZGmno2qP0IqL9VKY?play=true&utm_source=open.spotify.com&utm_medium=open)

For the latter, I go for quiet personally, or turn the volume way down and put on something chill that I know really well. When it's familiar my mind doesn't get stuck on the music too much. I like Ephemeris from H.U.V.A Network, or some Boards of Canada or some Darkjazz (like Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble or Bohren & Der Club of Gore).

Also, counterintuitively, there is a lot of metal that goes well with this too. Here is one example:

[https://open.spotify.com/user/infralite/playlist/6xHbGt1MGWa...](https://open.spotify.com/user/infralite/playlist/6xHbGt1MGWaXiqru9bD5U4)

I love music suggestions so feel free to reply with some!

<comment><USER46> Here's a playlist of Chill Hop songs I've found over the year:

[https://open.spotify.com/user/iwillscoop/playlist/2kyAGCBe20...](https://open.spotify.com/user/iwillscoop/playlist/2kyAGCBe20RgmiC7Wfva1H)

<comment><USER28> This is awesome! Thank you! I love the vibe. I knew about Tokimonsta and Fat Jon (Soundgirl Personal is an awesome song) but the rest is super new to me. Also Emancipator is in there which I love and completely forgot about - <USER2> quite hiphop though :)

Check out Sketches in Colour by Kaiori Breathe for something cool like Emancipator-ish.

You probably know about Nujabes, but specifically check out the Samurai Champloo soundtrack!

Also for something slightly different but close vibe to that playlist, check out Zero Seven!

<comment><USER46> Nujabes got me into the genre, along with a lot of people I know! I'll look into Kaiori Breathe and Zero Seven.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER47> Man I love this subject. For me music is to code what condiments are to food. It gives aroma. It also helps me get/stay in the zone and boost productivity. Only listen to electronic music, but depending on the mood very different:

\- Stressed? => ambient, glitch (like Tim Hecker) calms me down

\- Unmotivated/Mind Wandering? => some old school goa trance picks me up (like Shakta)

\- On a normal day => maybe psybient (CBL, Solar Fields...) or some modern progressive (Frisky radio has some good stuff)

New stuff doesn't bother me, but words/verses do, hence there are almost none in what I listen.

</comment><comment><USER48> Anyone here remembers Philosomatika online radio station? Well it is back as a Radionomy station.

[http://www.philosomatika.fm/](http://www.philosomatika.fm/)

That was my go to place for programming music. I was excited to find it is back.

I got the $5/month sans-commercials subscription and am pretty happy with it.

SomaFM is great too especially Drone Zone for a quieter slower pace.

[http://somafm.com/dronezone/](http://somafm.com/dronezone/)

<comment><USER49> Philosomatika is back?! Thank you!

<comment><USER48> It seems so. Not sure what relationship current maintainers / owner of it has with previous ones but so far for $5 / month I've been getting pretty good music. Worth it to me at least.

Some songs from the catalog repeat, but I am ok so far.

SomaFM is good too, but found their trance music so so.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER50> di.fm, [http://www.di.fm](http://www.di.fm) 90 different kinds of electronic music, current favorite for programming is: [http://www.di.fm/melodicprogressive](http://www.di.fm/melodicprogressive)

<comment><USER51> Plus one to di.fm. They've been around forever and have great channels.

</comment></comment><comment><USER52> I highly recommend openlab (1) as an alternative to soma.

[http://openlab.fm](http://openlab.fm)

[http://ice04.fluidstream.net/openlab.mp3](http://ice04.fluidstream.net/openlab.mp3)

(1 - Interestingly, started by Robert Miles, the producer responsible for the 90s pop-trance classic 'Children'. His musical sophistication has advanced quite significantly since then.)

<comment><USER53> Thanks!

To try to repay - if you're not already aware of it - perhaps you'll enjoy [http://www.berlincommunityradio.com/](http://www.berlincommunityradio.com/)

</comment></comment><comment><USER54> For me, the "The social network" OST by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross always works: [https://open.spotify.com/album/1ijkFiMeHopKkHyvQCWxUa](https://open.spotify.com/album/1ijkFiMeHopKkHyvQCWxUa)

<comment><USER55> Similarly, the OST to the movie Mr. Brooks is really good.

</comment></comment><comment><USER56> Found that hypnotic/dub techno works best for deep concentration while programming. Pulsating grooves and lush pads stimulate brain but don't distract. [https://coldtearrecords.bandcamp.com/album/vejopatis- versmes](https://coldtearrecords.bandcamp.com/album/vejopatis-versmes) [https://soundcloud.com/rich-people-cheap-stereos/guest- mix-5...](https://soundcloud.com/rich-people-cheap-stereos/guest-mix-57-ntogn)

[https://soundcloud.com/radiozora/onthewaytoozoraclaudioprc](https://soundcloud.com/radiozora/onthewaytoozoraclaudioprc)

</comment><comment><USER57> Funny nobody mentioned MixCloud. I love that service, much better than SoundCloud.

I'm now listening to this: [https://www.mixcloud.com/mirtakinex/veek- luxal/](https://www.mixcloud.com/mirtakinex/veek-luxal/)

I totally recommend exploring different genres for coding:

\- Ambient

\- Deep house (non vocal)

\- Dub techno ( [https://www.mixcloud.com/joaquinjimenez/](https://www.mixcloud.com/joaquinjimenez/) )

\- Techno

\- Liquid drum and bass (or other sub genres)

Or just dig to my favorites :) [https://www.mixcloud.com/szasz/favorites/](https://www.mixcloud.com/szasz/favorites/)

</comment><comment><USER58> I'd like some mixed videogame music, like [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZPilAQ9a3X1m1fivRd6s...](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZPilAQ9a3X1m1fivRd6sj1um9mA8WGON)

also 8 bit prodigy ain't bad [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUYvPBhvoPyGwG3fKELVN...](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUYvPBhvoPyGwG3fKELVNfTdx5UsuN6p0)

and old chiasm albums as well. anything that 'disconnects' me from the surrounding, as I'm extremely attentive to sounds. traditional concentration music usually makes me focus on the music itself.

</comment><comment><USER59> Brain.fm has worked wonders for me, and in a double way:

1) Their sounds waves purport to actually flip some switches in your brain that help you focus.

2) It's an awesome trigger to get into "productive mode" if you start the habit.

The focus loop is great and you can try different ambiences and music (EDM and "cinematic").

</comment><comment><USER60> I find Jazz to be quite helpful. Miles Davis (Milestones, etc) or John Coltrane (A Love Supreme, etc) works for me.

Failing that The Orb.

</comment><comment><USER61> It seems that no one has mentioned this so I'll add.

There was a study back in the 1960s which has shown that listening to music was actually detrimental to programmers' productivity. The results were kind of popularized in the book Peopleware and by Joel Spolsky (see e.g. here: [https://www.quora.com/How-accurate-is-Joel-Spolskys- assertio...](https://www.quora.com/How-accurate-is-Joel-Spolskys-assertion- that-programmers-are-limited-mentally-when-they-listen-to-music-while- coding)).

My personal experience confirms this. While I can successfully fix things or TDD something I already have a good reasoning about while listening to music, more difficult programming tasks require more focus which I can get only in silent conditions (which may be hard to find, alas).

The most important thing with music to me is that it shouldn't capture my mind. In other words, I shouldn't be noticing it.

There is a nice tool I've successfully been using for years: [https://www.focusatwill.com/](https://www.focusatwill.com/), it looks like no one has mentioned it yet also. It is paid (though cheap) and it helps me tremendously, especially in noisy environments (office). They are marketing themselves as science-based, has a few channels, including the ones aimed specifically for those who suffer from ADHD. Their music selection is quite nice and they also take the idea of distractions seriously: if you find a track is distracting you (basically, if you catch yourself actually listening to it instead of focusing on work), you click "Next" and this track will never be played again.

<comment><USER62> I would bet this study is one of the many that fall in our modern "reproducibility crisis".

And it's precisely because of what you said. There are many coding activities that don't require a deep level of concentration, and at least in my grand sample of one, my brain seems to recognize these situations, create a sensation of discomfort making me instinctively stop the music. However, I would completely fail to accomplish the previously mentioned tedious tasks if I didn't have something in the background preventing myself from wandering off into the depths of the Internet (and that's with the Go Fucking Work add-on installed).

</comment></comment><comment><USER63> When programming I need music to be something I know already, but it can be any style - just enough to keep my overactive brain in check! I'm a DJ too [1], so I have plenty of long sets of music (no iterruptions, no gaps), that can really help when I need to plough through a difficult chunk of work.

Currently on rotation (and has been for a while) is the Tekkonkinkreet soundtrack [2]. So beautiful, but also hypnotic (the film is amazing too):

[1] [https://soundcloud.com/paullouth](https://soundcloud.com/paullouth)

[2] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WixQfMABnFA&list=PLCE193349F...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WixQfMABnFA&list=PLCE193349FF6D00BA)

<comment><USER64> Thanks so much for introducing me to this artist!

</comment></comment><comment><USER65> I usually listen to a set on SoundCloud. Progression of the set instead of one song completely stopping and next song playing helps me from getting distracted. I prefer either trance or techno These songs being instrumental seems to keep me focused.

</comment><comment><USER66> Solar Fields, the group that made the music for the video game Mirror's Edge, is one of my favorite groups for programming.

<comment><USER67> I've been listening to Mirror's Edge OST while programming for weeks now, never thought to look for who created that sound track. Thanks!

<comment><USER66> Sure! I found Solar Fields by looking for Mirror's Edge remixes and stumbled onto whole songs. Solar Fields has several albums, it's a massive group and I think it's just one guy.

Also recently found there is a sister group called H.U.V.A. Network that's pretty good too but has a slower and darker feel.

<comment><USER28> Yes! Many early-morning lines of code were written to the Ephemeris album! Especially Something Heavens!

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER68> John Cage's 4' 33''

Seriously, I don't like noise when I'm in the flow.

</comment><comment><USER69> Nice.

Has anyone tried the tracks from Music To Code By ([http://mtcb.pwop.com/](http://mtcb.pwop.com/)) ?

I bought a few of them and IMO they are nice. The tracks are all 25 minutes in length.

<comment><USER70> I love these. Very good for background music, and they're repetitious, which works for me.

My wife, however, is a classical/jazz musician, so she can't use music to focus, it causes her anxiety because she spends time analyzing the music. She tends to listen to ambient noise playlists (rain, etc.)

</comment></comment><comment><USER71> Nobody mentioned [http://musictocodeby.net](http://musictocodeby.net) yet

</comment><comment><USER72> You all know that this is the only valid music for programming: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1Ds9CeG- VY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1Ds9CeG-VY)

<comment><USER73> Haha! I thought it was going to be this...

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5fM6WpC_nE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5fM6WpC_nE)

Same same.

I love this remix of the Voodoo People that's on the b-side by the chemical brothers (who were calling themselves the dust brothers at the time...):

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NT5VkFnU554](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NT5VkFnU554)

</comment></comment><comment><USER74> ...slightly of subject:

I love programming with classical music. Classic guitar music in particular, but any classical will do. I rarely listen to classical other than when driving or when coding.

<comment><USER75> Are you a fan of Paco de Lucia by any chance? I love Entre dos aguas.

<comment><USER74> I am, and I do as well.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER76> I listen to the "Focus" music from Brain.fm.

Works on all my devices and allows for offline content too.

<comment><USER77> I use this aswell. They just released an iphone app.

<comment><USER76> Yup, I started using it yesterday. I can't wait to have some offline content to take with me.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER78> I assume the names on the compilations are the artists/people selecting the music? I love seeing Datasette on there (multiple times in fact). Listened a lot to him.

<comment><USER79> It's Datasette that created the site

<comment><USER78> Oh wow, cool!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER80> I used to listen to various types of classical music on moderate-to-low volume, but I found that on average, it has a negative impact on flow. My mind gets into a cadence with the music (I'm sure there's a term; I don't know it), and that cadence can be devastating for certain types of problems, and often leads to deep stress or frustration and the complete inability to focus at its worst. Even music/sounds that are good for meditation can be detrimental. My mind is chaotic, and I find that to be extremely positive.

Perhaps it's possible that if the problems I'm dealing with are similar enough that such cadence would be beneficial---it does trigger memories and some even nostalgia. These days, I have too many diverse issues that it's just safe to be in silence, though I find that the white noise of my (loud) forced air system (heat/AC) provides a fairly positive effect. Yet white/pink noise does not. Does anyone have any suggestions there?

</comment><comment><USER81> Here is one album and artist that I like:

Music video: Sitar - Vilayat Khan - Rarely Heard Ragas:

[http://jugad2.blogspot.in/2013/10/music-video-sitar- vilayat-...](http://jugad2.blogspot.in/2013/10/music-video-sitar-vilayat-khan- rarely.html)

I had bought the CD quite a while ago, and like it. Very relaxing to listen to while programming; it is quiet, melodious, almost meditative sitar music, except for a few parts which are slightly louder, near the end, IIRC. A few people also told me they liked it, after reading the above post.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qim2av- SRwU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qim2av-SRwU)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sitar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sitar)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vilayat_Khan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vilayat_Khan)

</comment><comment><USER82> This is great, thanks.

I'm going to plug Soma FM, since it's been my go-to music provider for studying since University, and carried into work. They have many genres and stations, most of which have no lyrics. No affiliation, I just love what they do.

[https://somafm.com/](https://somafm.com/)

<comment><USER83> WOW! SomaFM is still around!? I used to stream SomaFM for programming way back in 2004. That's pretty amazing.

</comment></comment><comment><USER84> I'm listening to this same 2 hours mix for years: [https://soundcloud.com/cid- inc/cid-inc-artist-of-the-week](https://soundcloud.com/cid-inc/cid-inc-artist- of-the-week) It has become an anchor that always puts me in mood for deep work.

<comment><USER85> This is an unbelievable mix. Non vocal electronic music with perfect tempo and transitions. Thank you so much. I bought my brain.fm subscription but I didn't think I needed to. Please share if you have any other mixes like this.

<comment><USER84> Currently in my "mixes" folder:

\- Dmitry Molosh Live @ Just Movement Recyclelounge Gallery Club 44 (Amsterdam July 2th 2016).mp3

\- Roger Martinez - Live @ Oh Cha __ Bombay India __ 24-04-2016 Final.mp3

\- From Cid Inc again [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRk59Tn- lCk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRk59Tn-lCk)

I can also recommend the Marcelo Vasami Inception show.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER86> Awesome! I made mix #21 under the name Idol Eyes a couple years back, cool see this site is still going strong :)

</comment><comment><USER87> My favorite music for programming is the ambient music of Lucette Bourdin [0] [1]. _Horse Heaven_ , the first album listed on [0], is one of her best and a great starting point if you're new to her music.

I like her work because it is (with only a few exceptions) undistracting, yet has enough variety that if I do choose to tune into it for a few moments, it's pleasant.

There's lots of other good stuff on the Earth Mantra site as well -- and the price is right :-)

[0] [http://relaxedmachinery.com/earthmantra/artist- detail.php?id...](http://relaxedmachinery.com/earthmantra/artist- detail.php?id=17)

[1] [http://www.lbourdin.com/](http://www.lbourdin.com/)

<comment><USER88> Agreed that undistracting ambient is the best coding music :)

My favorite bands / albums are

\- AES Dana: Leylines, Perimeters and Pollen

\- Astropilot: Solora Walk 2, 3

\- Carbon Based Life forms: Hydroponic Garden, Refuge, Twentythree, World of Sleepers

\- Connect.Ohm: 9980

\- H.U.V.A. Network: Ephemeris

\- MIKTEK: Elsewhere

\- Solar Fields: Mirror's Edge, Movements, Origin #1 & 2, Random Friday, Until we Meet the Sky

\- Stellardrone: Echoes, Invent the Universe, Light Years, A Moment of Stillness, On a Beam of Light, Sublime

\- Zero Cult: Where Rivers Have No Name

</comment></comment><comment><USER89> I really enjoy the selection at Calm Radio [1], especially the instrumental and classical channels.

You can also mix in backgrounds and "Atmosphere" (white noise) to create the perfect ambiance.

[1]: [https://calmradio.com/en/](https://calmradio.com/en/)

</comment><comment><USER90> I used to listen to Writhem Radio when it was on Grooveshark, and then when it moved to plug.dj, which was then shut down (and has apparently been relaunched).

It always had great music for programming, and some great chat too. I really miss it.

Because of Writhem Radio, I've become a big fan of Outrun/Retrowave.

</comment><comment><USER91> I checked out brain.fm and it is really good; I enjoyed it while studying but I will not pay for it. I listen to somafm.com drone zone station and defcon station for studying they also have a variety of stations for other occasions and it is ad-free! if you like it donate! Cheers!

</comment><comment><USER92> I really like the idea, but am unsure about execution.

For example, datassette starts off with big differences in volume: [http://musicforprogramming.net/?three](http://musicforprogramming.net/?three)

I've been listening at work for years and what works for me is:

Dark (in minor) soundtracks (electronica and classical).

Classic rock (usually in minor) that has a mostly consistent sound.

and various types of white (and other colored) noise in [https://mynoise.net/](https://mynoise.net/) (where I donate so there are no limitations)

I used to listen to Pandora and other stations, but I found the transitions and switching songs would get distracting, so now I just listen to the same set of songs on loop.

</comment><comment><USER93> _shameless self promotion_

I have created music specifically designed to engage/distract the 5 year-old in my mind so that the adult in my mind can actually get work done.

The tracks introduce elements in a layered presentation that keeps the content the same but creates emergent properties as the already introduced elements interact with the newly introduced ones.

Almost all tracks are at 120 bpm and in the key of C using the pentatonic scale.

I find that the result is enough variance to keep the 5 year-old's attention but enough sameness to not engage the adult.

(and no I do not have a dissociative identity disorder; it's just a metaphor.)

[https://soundcloud.com/shawndumas/tracks](https://soundcloud.com/shawndumas/tracks)

\----

edit: I am not smart...

<comment><USER94> You might have meant to link to [https://soundcloud.com/shawndumas/tracks](https://soundcloud.com/shawndumas/tracks) , as the link you provided takes me to "my" tracks, of which I have none. Unless the idea was that I was the creator all along.

<comment><USER93> lol; ty

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER95> Listen to the Cloud - I listen to a nice mix of Ambient music and ATC radio chatter at [http://listentothe.cloud](http://listentothe.cloud). I built this a couple of days ago and topped at /r/programming

<comment><USER96> Thank you for making this! I found it on reddit and have been really surprised how much the air traffic background helps me focus.

</comment></comment><comment><USER97> I like to random these Kompakt Pop Ambient records early in the day, all instrumental type of thing.

[https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=pop+ambient](https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=pop+ambient)

</comment><comment><USER98> This is cool and all, but I encourage you all to just find artists you like and follow them on soundcloud / mixcloud / youtube. There is a ton of great electronic music out there that aids in concentration but is actually fun to listen to. I'm not sure how everyone settled on really slow and droney music being great for programming. I find it pretty boring (no offense to the author).

Try Dixon or Four Tet to start:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LU18BJunVk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LU18BJunVk)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ca6pjR2TLns](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ca6pjR2TLns)

</comment><comment><USER99> I rarely listen to music while programming, but when I do, it's usually Megadeth for trivial work or Ashkenazy playing Chopin - Bercuse for complex work. Possibly swapping Sigur Ros () for Chopin.

I search on YouTube for a URL and throw it in YouTube repeater.

</comment><comment><USER100> A little playlist: [https://open.spotify.com/user/premasagar/playlist/23HecvNHK1...](https://open.spotify.com/user/premasagar/playlist/23HecvNHK1xggp4PMZUc6T)

</comment><comment><USER101> Surprised not to see focusmusic.fm You can listen to electronic, downtempo, classic and rain channels. I like electronic while writing code.

Link: [https://focusmusic.fm/](https://focusmusic.fm/)

</comment><comment><USER102> For me it is Nectarine Demoscene Radio at [https://www.scenemusic.net/demovibes/](https://www.scenemusic.net/demovibes/)

Something about all the blip-blops that sets the right mindset.

</comment><comment><USER103> I've been listening to autechre for the last 20 years. Great programming music.

</comment><comment><USER104> I have found spotify 'Deep Focus' playlist [0] to be quite helpful.

Sometimes I also listen to movies' and tv shows' soundtracks [1] while working on the frontend (HTML/CSS)

[0] [https://open.spotify.com/user/spotify/playlist/2ujjMpFriZ2na...](https://open.spotify.com/user/spotify/playlist/2ujjMpFriZ2nayLmrD1Jgl)

[1] [https://open.spotify.com/user/11142792696/playlist/2UtWdCTOx...](https://open.spotify.com/user/11142792696/playlist/2UtWdCTOxQeyKuXZDVYcZT)

</comment><comment><USER105> [https://mynoise.net/](https://mynoise.net/) is also an interesting website.

not just for programming, but for relaxation. I use it to daydream when it's nasty outside. quite fun!

</comment><comment><USER106> Classical for me. Typically Baroque i.e. Bach. If I'm not in a classical mood, then anything electronic without lyrics - Tangerine Dream, Jean Michel Jarre, Vangelis etc.

And, I kid ye not, Star Trek: The Motion Picture Soundtrack.

</comment><comment><USER107> I have been listening to Civilization 6 soundtrack recently. It all- instrumental.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cb922Sry_DI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cb922Sry_DI)

</comment><comment><USER83> Carbon-Based Lifeforms all day every day. Solar Fields. Tycho. Aes Dana. Loscil. Asura. Miktek. Sync24 (side project of one of the CBL dudes). HUVA Network (side project of Solar Fields + Aes Dana). Cell.

</comment><comment><USER85> I am late to the party, love all the suggestions especially brain.fm.

My go to has been the Spotify playlist called 'Beats To Think To'. It's non vocal, electronic repetitive beats. This is the only play list which worked for me. It used to be part of the 'Focus' play list group but was removed from there for some reason.

[https://play.spotify.com/user/spotify_germany/playlist/2nKFn...](https://play.spotify.com/user/spotify_germany/playlist/2nKFnGNFvHX9hG5Kv7Bm3G)

</comment><comment><USER108> I'm surprised to see that the ambient artist Stars of the Lid hasn't been mentioned.

It makes for good music to sleep, study, program and/or read a book to (most ambient music are unless they delve into the more abstract, avant garde realm).

I also like Hakobune and Chihei Hatakeyama. Nice warm tones.

And if I'm looking to get my blood pumping a bit, I've never gone wrong from recommendations from here: [http://316144.tumblr.com/](http://316144.tumblr.com/)

Dance music can be meditative too :)

</comment><comment><USER109> I'm currently listening to [https://somafm.com/defcon/](https://somafm.com/defcon/) and it's doing it for me.

</comment><comment><USER110> I wish there was a community input based Spotify playlist - since I generally use that for all of my music needs across devices.

I do realize many people have different tastes, but most of the time people can find a happy medium.

Here is the closest playlist I can find to that curated by a single person: [https://open.spotify.com/user/johanbrook/playlist/2mtlhuFVOF...](https://open.spotify.com/user/johanbrook/playlist/2mtlhuFVOFMn6Ho3JmrLc2)

</comment><comment><USER111> The website timed out on me, but...

For me, it's got to be techno - generally happy hardcore - fast, repetitive beats and uplifting but inane (and hence not distracting) lyrics.

(I may be the only one. ;) )

<comment><USER112> Same, I've got the entirety of the PaulWay mixes ([http://mabula.net/mixes/](http://mabula.net/mixes/)) on shuffle. Been using them for a couple of years now, not every track is good for every day but if one's not working out I just hit 'next'.

<comment><USER111> Thanks for the recommendation - I'll check those out.

I mainly listen to the Bonkers and Hardcore Til I Die mixes (and occasionally older stuff like Dreamscape and Slammin Vinyl).

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER113> I'm a very long time programmer (job) and bedroom DJ (for fun) - these days I mostly mix electronic tunes that I like to work to and inspire me to sink into that space where everything lines up. Obviously this is a personal journey that works for me, but perhaps this will appeal to some of you too.

Link: [https://mixcloud.com/williamthowe/](https://mixcloud.com/williamthowe/)

</comment><comment><USER114> My favorites while programming are 80/90's rock, pop, hip-hop music I am familiar with or video game music via OCRemix [1] or Rainwave [2]. I also enjoy using Sirius XM when I can't decide what to listen to. My favorite stations are Backspin and XMU.

[1] [http://ocremix.org](http://ocremix.org)

[2] [https://rainwave.cc](https://rainwave.cc)

</comment><comment><USER115> I'm all about Chillstep. Repetitive beats and sparse lyrics helps me focus like a champ. I've converted several coworkers to it over the years.

<comment><USER116> Yes, chillstep is a great genre because it has quite consistent mood and tempo.

Here's one of the best collections: [https://www.youtube.com/user/Pulse8Music](https://www.youtube.com/user/Pulse8Music)

</comment></comment><comment> Ar-Curunir Post-rock is wonderful for concentration: no vocals, but enough crescendos to pump anyone up. If you want quieter post-rock, it's available too.

</comment><comment><USER117> RadioParadise.com has been my go-to for years.

Link: [http://radioparadise.com](http://radioparadise.com)

</comment><comment><USER118> Shameless plug to a YouTube playlist I made a few years ago to share my favorite pieces of "music for work" to a friend: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMnZa55isA8&list=PLf8nKJTmIH...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMnZa55isA8&list=PLf8nKJTmIHjB3II7p_ld_94FdRnKyASZt)

</comment><comment><USER119> Here's some Chinese traditional instrumental music that has a good combination of interest and subtlety - it's low-key and sort of emotionally oblique: [http://www.sinicave.com/pd_an_music.cfm](http://www.sinicave.com/pd_an_music.cfm)

(I can't vouch for that vendor, having never used them.)

</comment><comment><USER120> My favourite musics are those without human voices as they tend to interfere with my thought processes. These are my top 10 most played pieces in the past 30 days:

* Hand Covers Bruise (Social Network OST)

* 3.14 Every Night (Social Network OST)

* 3.1415... (PoI OST)

* God Mode (PoI OST)

* Watching with Ten Thousand Eyes (PoI OST)

* Listening with A Million Ears (PoI OST)

* The Red Capes are Coming (BvS OST)

* Must There Be A Superman? (BvS OST)

* This is My World (BvS OST)

* Francesca da Rimini (Tchaikovsky)

Fascinating pattern there.

</comment><comment><USER121> What seems to work best for me is ambient electronic stuff (Hol Baumann, Solar Fields etc.) with Rainy Mood (rain sounds) playing over it. Something about the mix of the music and the constant background noise kicks my brain into concentration mode.

And then I lose track of time and suddenly it's dark and I've missed a couple of meetings.

</comment><comment><USER122> I've been listening to Spotify's "Beats to think to" playlist for writing — so much that it has completely skewed all of my other Spotify music recommendations. Obviously, it doesn't completely prevent distractions, as evidenced by reading HackerNews instead of working. ;)

Going to try Brain.fm based on this thread though.

</comment><comment><USER123> I made a Spotify playlist with songs I like coding to a while back: [https://open.spotify.com/user/johanbrook/playlist/2mtlhuFVOF...](https://open.spotify.com/user/johanbrook/playlist/2mtlhuFVOFMn6Ho3JmrLc2). Seemed to have gained some traction.

</comment><comment><USER124> I've been using soundtracks from The Sims and SimCity, mostly by Jerry Martin, it's great as background music.

[https://play.spotify.com/user/polmuz/playlist/6ehsMsq82TeDa9...](https://play.spotify.com/user/polmuz/playlist/6ehsMsq82TeDa9ylM81qTK)

<comment><USER125> Funny, didn't expect someone else to listen that.

</comment></comment><comment><USER126> This is the playlist I've been using with great success. [https://open.spotify.com/user/128017147/playlist/45LpllYld7S...](https://open.spotify.com/user/128017147/playlist/45LpllYld7SciJQcxWkY2g)

</comment><comment><USER127> Video game soundtracks on spotify. Specifically:

* Bastion * Fez * Assassins Creed

No vocals, just great music designed to keep you focused.

<comment><USER128> Yes! Video game music also gets me in the zone.

If you're into oldschool games you might also enjoy [http://muki.io](http://muki.io). Pure DOS and MIDI nostalgia. :)

</comment></comment><comment><USER126> This is the playlist I've been using [https://open.spotify.com/user/128017147/playlist/45LpllYld7S...](https://open.spotify.com/user/128017147/playlist/45LpllYld7SciJQcxWkY2g)

<comment><USER46> Emancipator, Tycho, Bonobo. Good stuff!

</comment></comment><comment><USER129> You might want to look at [focus@will]([https://www.focusatwill.com/app/pages/v3oi](https://www.focusatwill.com/app/pages/v3oi)) which worked pretty well for me in the past (and still is).

</comment><comment><USER130> I love Virtual Dream Plaza for this kind of music. [https://virtualdreamplaza.bandcamp.com/](https://virtualdreamplaza.bandcamp.com/)

Each work is 30 minutes long. The time just melts away when I put one on.

</comment><comment><USER131> I find music,even instrumentals, too distracting. I prefer [https://www.noisli.com/](https://www.noisli.com/) \-- ambient white noise to shut out all distractions and noises in my workplace

</comment><comment><USER132> I just rock this, [https://open.spotify.com/user/123106991/playlist/2qurSPeHRlo...](https://open.spotify.com/user/123106991/playlist/2qurSPeHRlobb3tO6XUa8C)

</comment><comment><USER133> I'm surprised by the number of people saying they can't listen to anything with lyrics while they program! Not that there's anything wrong with it, it's just never a problem for me, I'll listen to just about anything

</comment><comment><USER134> I listen to dozen of different guitarists. Jason Richardson and Jeff Loomis are my favorite now. Also, check the entire discography of Vinnie Moore.

I'm into retrowave lately. Perturbator and Dance with the Dead make my fingers start moving by their own.

</comment><comment><USER135> I'm listening mostly this playlist: [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLETGndYxbsUUM0Y_sp1VW...](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLETGndYxbsUUM0Y_sp1VWd9xuQsPnaxcz)

</comment><comment><USER136> I did at one time listen to music while programming, but the last few years I'm more productive when I don't. When I did, any lyrics of any kind would be too distracting. It would have to be really mellow (any genre really).

</comment><comment><USER137> iTunes link [https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/music-for- programming/id...](https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/music-for- programming/id500565620)

</comment><comment><USER138> I built an App with similar sound effects for iOS which help me to get relaxed and think in different solutions

[https://appsto.re/de/8PGcfb.i](https://appsto.re/de/8PGcfb.i)

</comment><comment><USER139> I love youarelistening.to's concept: [http://youarelistening.to/newyork](http://youarelistening.to/newyork). Keeps me comfort during late night coding sessions.

</comment><comment><USER140> I like the website. Nice style. Interesting music. But why did you use an if- then-else statement and needlessly reassign task to task, where a simple if- then would have been sufficient to initialize task if undefined?

</comment><comment><USER141> Along with some of the other great suggestions here, soundtracks by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross have been mainstays for me. Throw in some Nine Inch Nails' Ghosts and you have a nice dark soundtrack for working to.

<comment><USER142> that The Social Network soundtrack, oooooh yes

</comment></comment><comment><USER143> Love it. But I love Enterprise mode even more. What does that say about me? ;)

<comment><USER144> That... you like Enterprise mode?

[https://s-media-cache- ak0.pinimg.com/736x/68/af/48/68af48f62...](https://s-media-cache- ak0.pinimg.com/736x/68/af/48/68af48f62685d36378196eb504fca55b.jpg)

</comment></comment><comment><USER145> Programming music needs to be

1\. Wordless

2\. High energy

I know no better implementation than the Juno Reactor page on Soundcloud: [https://soundcloud.com/juno-reactor1](https://soundcloud.com/juno-reactor1)

</comment><comment><USER146> [http://www.radio-paralax.de/index1.html](http://www.radio- paralax.de/index1.html) \- old school video game remixes. Something about these do it for me.

</comment><comment><USER147> I listen to these a lot of the time, because most of them are pure electronic music with a beat, which is the most productivity-inducing music for me. A few have some speaking, so I don't listen to them.

</comment><comment><USER148> Just whack on some Future: [https://open.spotify.com/album/0fUy6IdLHDpGNwavIlhEsl](https://open.spotify.com/album/0fUy6IdLHDpGNwavIlhEsl)

</comment><comment><USER149> Baroque concerti work for me: Bach, Corelli, Handel, Buxtehude, &c.

</comment><comment><USER150> I've discovered a lot of new artists, while still being able to focus on work, from [http://oem-radio.org/](http://oem-radio.org/)

</comment><comment><USER151> I've been a happy paying user of focus@will [0] for a few years now. Works very well for me.

[0] [https://www.focusatwill.com](https://www.focusatwill.com)

</comment><comment><USER152> give Ludovico Einaudi a try: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ImZTkeCHgA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ImZTkeCHgA)

</comment><comment><USER153> This youtube channel has some nice stuff.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnFdFrniZSg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnFdFrniZSg)

</comment><comment> pokemon-trainer MrSuicideSheep Burning Snowflakes on infine loop

[https://youtube.com/watch?v=wGS8gYDIzPw](https://youtube.com/watch?v=wGS8gYDIzPw)

</comment><comment><USER154> [http://www.concertzender.nl/en/](http://www.concertzender.nl/en/)

One of my favs, for any task or absence of.

</comment><comment><USER155> William Basinski "Watermusic II" is wonderful!

</comment><comment><USER156> [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQNtTW2sIqE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQNtTW2sIqE) DF!

</comment><comment><USER157> I heart radio has local radio stations so I can listen to my favorite station over the air or thru streaming, via my PC, mobile device or Apple TV.

</comment><comment><USER158> kruhft - Listener (2016)

iTunes: [https://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/listener/id1127677466](https://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/listener/id1127677466)

BandCamp: [http://kruhft.bandcamp.com/album/listener](http://kruhft.bandcamp.com/album/listener)

</comment><comment><USER159> These days I'm listening to friskyradio.com. Lots of electronic in different styles from around the world, including ambient.

</comment><comment><USER160> my 'Background muzik 4 werk' playlist on Spotify. i do ux not programming, but it's still excellent imho.

[https://open.spotify.com/user/121178959/playlist/310BbsmKb79...](https://open.spotify.com/user/121178959/playlist/310BbsmKb79BdmvphX0qtE)

</comment><comment><USER161> I've been listening to a band called "Ratatat" lately and it's awesome for focusing.

</comment><comment><USER162> Really want to see what this is but site is still unavailable? Been at the to of HN for a while now...

</comment><comment><USER163> Needs more scaleable, spent ~30s waiting for a plaintext list of mp3s to show up on my screen

</comment><comment><USER164> oh man, this thread is chock full of great suggestions, thanks a bunch all!

<comment><USER165> Yes, this thread is golden, think I just expanded my consciousness ;-)

</comment></comment><comment><USER166> The music to code by series from the dotnetrocks guys is real good too

</comment><comment><USER167> Not enough True Black Metal. Fail.

Seriously, all these things end up as personal preferences and whatever fad is in now. Techno? Whatev. When I was in school, it was industrial.

All this talk about how it helps "focus" or "brain" or whatever is just scam babble.

</comment><comment><USER168> It remind me of the FTL OST Good for programming too !

</comment><comment><USER169> everyone programmer knows that the only track you need is Oxygène Part IV by jean michelle jarre - no further questions your honour

</comment><comment><USER170> Are the player buttons supposed to work?

<comment><USER170> I'm thinking there's not enough bandwidth and the files can't load.

</comment></comment><comment><USER171> The website is far too slow to load. :-(

<comment><AUTHOR> Actually, in a normal day, it's very fast. However not all sites are prepared to hit #1 on HN..

</comment></comment><comment><USER172> I would suggest Void Main's album "Deadlock" – it's the only music I know with a programming _theme_ as well as being mostly instrumental and made for listening while programming. It used to be available on the old mp3.com (at [http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/241/void_main.htm](http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/241/void_main.htm)), but MP3.com was killed many ages ago. The artist still has the album cover and the tracks available on his home page, though. Note especially "Escape Sequence" which has authentic C++ programming sounds, and "Follow the GNU" with lyrics by Richard Stallman.

[http://www.grubblarna.com/voidmain/deadlock.jpg](http://www.grubblarna.com/voidmain/deadlock.jpg)

[http://www.grubblarna.com/voidmain/Void%20Main%20-%20Another...](http://www.grubblarna.com/voidmain/Void%20Main%20-%20Another%20World.mp3)

[http://www.grubblarna.com/voidmain/Void%20Main%20-%20Artific...](http://www.grubblarna.com/voidmain/Void%20Main%20-%20Artificial%20Recreation%20\(Altair%20Remix\).mp3)

[http://www.grubblarna.com/voidmain/Void%20Main%20-%20Artific...](http://www.grubblarna.com/voidmain/Void%20Main%20-%20Artificial%20Recreation.mp3)

[http://www.grubblarna.com/voidmain/Void%20Main%20-%20Escape%...](http://www.grubblarna.com/voidmain/Void%20Main%20-%20Escape%20Sequence.mp3)

[http://www.grubblarna.com/voidmain/Void%20Main%20-%20Follow%...](http://www.grubblarna.com/voidmain/Void%20Main%20-%20Follow%20the%20GNU%20\(feat%20R.M.Stallman\).mp3)

[http://www.grubblarna.com/voidmain/Void%20Main%20-%20Hello%2...](http://www.grubblarna.com/voidmain/Void%20Main%20-%20Hello%20World.mp3)

[http://www.grubblarna.com/voidmain/Void%20Main%20-%20I%20Too...](http://www.grubblarna.com/voidmain/Void%20Main%20-%20I%20Took%20the%20Red%20Pill.mp3)

[http://www.grubblarna.com/voidmain/Void%20Main%20-%20Interna...](http://www.grubblarna.com/voidmain/Void%20Main%20-%20Internal%20Compiler%20Error.mp3)

[http://www.grubblarna.com/voidmain/Void%20Main%20-%20Kernel%...](http://www.grubblarna.com/voidmain/Void%20Main%20-%20Kernel%20Calling.mp3)

[http://www.grubblarna.com/voidmain/Void%20Main%20-%20Penguin...](http://www.grubblarna.com/voidmain/Void%20Main%20-%20Penguin%20Planet%20\(Authentic%20Edit\).mp3)

[http://www.grubblarna.com/voidmain/Void%20Main%20-%20Penguin...](http://www.grubblarna.com/voidmain/Void%20Main%20-%20Penguin%20Planet.mp3)

[http://www.grubblarna.com/voidmain/Void%20Main%20-%20There%2...](http://www.grubblarna.com/voidmain/Void%20Main%20-%20There%20Is%20No%20Spoon.mp3)

[http://www.grubblarna.com/voidmain/Void%20Main%20-%20Use%20t...](http://www.grubblarna.com/voidmain/Void%20Main%20-%20Use%20the%20Source.mp3)

[http://www.grubblarna.com/voidmain/anotherworld_lime_remix.m...](http://www.grubblarna.com/voidmain/anotherworld_lime_remix.mp3)

<comment><USER173> Also kind of a programming theme IBM 1401, A User's Manual Studio album by Jóhann Jóhannsson

[https://vimeo.com/57378793](https://vimeo.com/57378793)

</comment></comment><comment><USER174> Dark psy.

</comment><comment> guard-of-terra Why specific music for programming? E.g. I mostly listen Caprice (the elvish one) for programming just because I like Caprice.

<comment><USER175> Lots of people, myself included, find it difficult to program (or concentrate on any mentally challenging task) while listening to certain types of music.

Personally I'm partial to Norwegian Black metal for programming.

<comment><USER176> Could you provide some youtube link showing what you like to listen?

<comment><USER175> Windir is an example of a band I think works really well for coding: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0v805xBELTs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0v805xBELTs) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IW6h0lhXW3Q](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IW6h0lhXW3Q)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER177> I use @lecandylab radio. Its tech house mixture with smooth sound..

</comment><comment><USER178> I recommend "Post Rock" on youtube.

</comment><comment><USER177> Why my comments disapear???

</comment><comment><USER179> Spotted mp3, quickly closed.

Can't take it seriously if it's still using mp3 rather than opus. What a waste of bandwidth.

<comment><USER148> This is the saddest comment I've ever seen. please get help</comment></comment>


Ask HN: Is there a market for a public location-sharing app? - slice-of-tree

While I don't personally think this would be any more invasive than, say, the phone book, do you think this is just too creepy?<p>Or has it already been done? <comment><AUTHOR> Would this be something like Google Latitude, where I share my present location (privately, limited to you, a select group of friends, Google, and the NSA; or openly, à la Foursquare or Twitter)?

Or are you envisioning a phone-book-like service where I post a more general "I live _here_ " sort of thing?

 _I_ would not participate in such a service. It's arguably much more invasive than a phone book - for one, phone books are usually only available in that geographic vicinity, and are not readily searchable like an online service would be.

<comment> slice-of-tree It would be something more open, like Twitter.

And, FYI, most phone books actually are available to search on the internet. E.g., for the UK: [http://www.thephonebook.bt.com/publisha.content/en/search/re...](http://www.thephonebook.bt.com/publisha.content/en/search/residential/search.publisha)

</comment></comment><comment><USER2> Location sharing as in something similar to Facebook check-ins or Geotagging in Instagram?

<comment> slice-of-tree Either, I'd be particularly interested to hear if you were open to one but not the other.</comment></comment>


Dmitry Medvedev declares official holiday in Russia: Programmer's Day - <AUTHOR> http://opendotdotdot.blogspot.com/2009/09/russias-new-holiday-programmers-day.html

<comment><USER2> Medvedev's office:

[http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2453/3714584029_6d37f5a64e_o....](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2453/3714584029_6d37f5a64e_o.jpg)

Oval Office:

[http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/01/21/us/21obama5-6...](http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/01/21/us/21obama5-600.jpg)

<comment><USER3> Medvedev has 2 mice?

<comment><USER4> And 2 keyboards and 2 monitors.

<comment><USER3> I still don't see the 4 arms thou...

<comment><USER5> [http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2009/02/the-workstations- of-...](http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2009/02/the-workstations-of-popular- websites/)

Maybe these people will answer your stupid question..

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Medvedev has been witnessed using macbooks and is internet savvy guy.

<comment><USER7> Most of the people I know who use macbooks can't tell an ethernet cable from a shoe string, let alone a bit from a byte. :-)

Disclaimer: Mac/Linux user here. And my main machine is a macbook (actually a MBP).

<comment><USER8> You could easily replace "MacBooks" with "Windows" in that sentence and it would still be true.

<comment><USER9> You could replace 'MacBooks/Windows' with 'computers' in that sentence and it would still be true.

<comment><USER10> You couldn't be more wrong guys :) A lot of IT professionals and noobies in Russia dream of MacBook. The different question is that the apple products are much more expensive here rather than overseas.

Almost everybody tries to bring it from USA, via eBay or somebody.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> I am so not impressed when politicians and government start doing something meaninglessly nice to any of the industries, because this is so full of shit. Like who cares about programmer's day? Do you? A best any programmer can do to please himself professionally is to write a great piece of code.

Unfortunately, these sort of things are used by politicians all over the world to make an illusion that they care and are doing something when in reality they do not. And unfortunately some smart people also buy it.

<comment><USER12> I would rather they do something like this than start creating all sorts of subsidies to particular industries (or even worse, particular 'industry leaders').

<comment><USER11> I don't see any connection between these two things. They may as well do both at the same time. The difference is that making someone's day is meaningless and useless to those this day has been made for.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> "In Soviet Russia, Programmer's day is a holiday"

<comment><USER14> Keep in mind that it's not a day off, just a holiday as in "notable calendar date".

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> Do we all get the day off?

<comment><USER16> You should. It's Saturday.

<comment><USER17> Caturday? Then why does my clocks show it's Sunday?!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> "The number 256 is chosen because it is the number of integers that can be expressed using a single eight-byte"

is the translation off or is this really what they said?

<comment><USER19> The translation is a bit off - the original text is correct. But these are not Medvedev's actual words anyway.

</comment></comment><comment><USER20> Hacker Day would've been better.</comment>


Google Chrome's Users Take a Back Seat to Its Bottom Line - <AUTHOR> https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2018/11/google-chromes-users-take-back-seat-its-bottom-line <comment><USER2> "If everyone used Tor Browser or Brave, many data brokers' and trackers' current business models would cease to be viable"

<comment><USER3> I consider Brave's highjacking of advertising revenue in an attempt to force web sites to monetize their site through Brave highly unethical and am disappointed to see it mentioned here.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Aside, have EFF just changed their logo? It jarred with me initially.

</comment><comment><USER5> This article is confused about what users want.

EFF and politicians just hate cookies. If only users knew the website used cookies they would choose something else they cry out. A billion cookie warning clickthroughs later - nope.

If only we made the cookie warning scarier with GPDR, including lots more details about how the scary cookie will be used. Nope - click click click go the users, permit, OK, Allow etc.

Aside from EFF hysteria here, let's focus on what users might want.

Users want

* their computers to be free of malware (looking at every company out there that installs bloatware and malware every chance they get on PC's and phone's with totally bogus privacy policies),

* want to be safe when they visit a website (not make it easy for a random website clicked on from a phising link to go the ransomeware route),

* want to be able to browse in incognito mode from time and time if they want to leave less of a digital footprint.

* want to be able to browse relatively safely without their ISP and or govt selling all their data about exactly which pages they visit (google's push around SSL may help here a bit, and these privacy invasions tend to be huge and at utility scale),

* Maybe would sort of like certificate authorities not to give out chase bank SSL certs to random middlebox DPI companies (google's aggressive stance on CA ecosystem after seeming total inaction by folks like firefox and IE and Safari).

* Help move folks to proper 2-factor (non-SMS based) to avoid account hijackings

* While making lots of things easy (auto suggestions everywhere etc).

In short, stuff that helps users avoid messes in their day to day life, but users seem happy to give up a lot to have maps, search, new devices etc all work together relatively smoothly.

Depending on how you count, google is cleaning up in this space BTW. Talk to some businesses who've made the switch to chrome + google apps about the number of phishing / ransomware issues they have (if they were another companies email service + ie / firefox).

Check out the absolute trash results (active malware) bing can return for basic search terms.

[https://www.howtogeek.com/fyi/bing-is-pushing-malware- when-y...](https://www.howtogeek.com/fyi/bing-is-pushing-malware-when-you- search-for-chrome/)

Seriously, bing should run the landing pages of adds through google's filters.

Users privacy is under absolute attack. Of all the people attacking this privacy (from governments to ISPS and more), google is not top of list. It makes for a good clickbait headline though.

BTW - Apple in same boat on enviro issues, despite all the Greenpeace attacks on apple, if you looked at the enviro story and workplace labor issues in android space you'd be shocked.

<comment><USER6> You seem to be suggesting that because Google has done an excellent job with security, they should get a free pass on privacy. I don't quite get the connection.

And from an engineering standpoint, comparing search results quality to browser-based privacy features is a tad absurd. At a basic level at least, the latter is a solved problem (as evidenced by the fact there are dozens of modestly-effective browser plugins made by hobbyist developers).

<comment><USER5> The headline is clickbait.

EFF should say if you value your privacy, move off Xiomi, Huawei, your Samsung smart tv, your company hosted email, even your non-google android phone filled with bloatware and phone home systems that sell your viewing habits to data brokers and move TO google / apple branded devices.

Just about everything you buy / touch OTHER THAN apple and google actively trashes your privacy without a care in the world on sometimes huge scale. Facebook, facebook apps, comcast/xfinity etc. Even dell was selling (or employees were selling) their customer lists out to indian call centers - you'd literally get a scam call from "dell" after purchasing your system with all your details.

Ask yourself, will your companies sysadmin fight these kind of requests (see below)?

[https://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/20/technology/google- resists...](https://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/20/technology/google-resists-us- subpoena-of-search-data.html)

I can't find it, but some hacker said the best thing they did was use google email because they got a state of the art legal team involved for free.

Let's have an OUNCE of perspective here.

I'm not saying google should get a free pass on privacy, I'm saying others should copy them, from google takeout, to the disclosures they do about how they use info, to the options they provide, to the legal response they bring to over-broad subpoenas.

Are they perfect? Certainly not. They obviously build a profile to market to you while keeping that private from the advertisers (not always common).This is the tradeoff folks get for free stuff, and my point was that users seem pretty happy to make that trade. Youtube is dominating its sector, chrome is dominating its sector etc. I don't, I like to pay for the google services I use such as email, and use other services that I find more secure.

Apple has an even stronger stance here in my view (and I'm on a iphone for that reason). But places like eff seem to attack category leaders not because google is the worst offender, but because it a) generates a headline, and b) is different than what people think.

<comment><USER7> You are very wrong about politicians' motivations though. Those cookie policies never had any of the stated purposes. They're not to improve privacy, nor are they about fairness in any way.

Google/FB are starting to determine the outcome of elections, and politicians inflict punishment on them to ... get them to influence elections. Surprise !

What really set this of, however is Google's support for Hillary Clinton. A third of the top of Google's management went to work 100% for Hillary Clinton (Eric Schmidt), and created effectively a department of Google working only to get her elected. And then ... let's just say he failed to deliver what was promised.

So then the companies were in the worst possible position. The government that got elected was very mad at them for working against them, and the government that lost (but was still in power) was VERY mad them for their failure.

This is the result.

In the EU Google (and FB, and Twitter, but especially Youtube) keeps and keeps and keeps exposing the real intentions of politicians. Mostly accidental, because they're surfacing real information that normally wouldn't make it anywhere.

When the French state decided to "evict" the "Calais jungle". Sounds so innocent doesn't it ? Youtube showed what it really was. Police went in, a central cordon surrounded by machine gun fire that set refugee's tents and houses on fire ...

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53uBTn3tBEo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53uBTn3tBEo)

And when the EU decided that "the right to be forgotten" was needed (I'm sure it was a complete coincidence that the then-president of the EU commission, Jose Manuel Barroso (I met the guy, he's a serious asshole who makes Trump look as gracious as a ballerina), the only institution with absolute lawgiving power in the EU) started his career organizing terrorist attacks for communist youth parties in a Portugese university (note: I'm not against leftists. But read what this guy did ... he played Gestapo chief for a decade. Beating people into year-long hospital stays because he lost an argument).

And then Google decided to sabotage this effort, in a number of ways ... And surprise ! Suddenly privacy is REALLY important !

When the Belgian youth services had 2 grandparents arrested for fleeing from youth services with a kid, then left the kids behind in a mental institution in Zagreb, Facebook surfaced this article to half of Belgium. A private individual (a reporter/presenter) (NOT child services, they just left the kids there. 2 and 4 years old, left alone in a mental institution) managed to convince the country to release the children and she brought them back to their parents. No further news.

When Norway's child expert council's chair Jo Erik Brøyn (this council decides on children being taken away from their parents "for their protection") was convicted ( _VERY_ lightly) for "using child porn for 20 years", again the article was surfaced and exposed to lots of people. The government decided to protect the name of this porn-using child psychiatrist (And failed, his name is "Jo Erik Brøyn") (The Norwegian government child services expert "Thore Langfeldt" testified in court, on government paid time of course, that "there is no evidence to suggest that people who download child pornography are more likely than anyone else to commit other offences against children") (note that the child-porn psychiatrist Jo Erik Brøyn also used Barnevernet, the Child Protection Service of Norway to get 2 Indian children as his own. Needless to say, Norway's CPS did not see any need to take those children away from a convicted sex offender). Again articles about this were widely circulated by Google and FB (and this one has a bit of a resurgence at the moment)

Oh, and in the UK it was exposed that Her Majesty's government has private companies getting paid for child placements, opening up accusations of child trafficking. Weirdly, several such companies doing these adoption placements of children taken away from their parents "for their own protection" are valued at tens of millions of pounds ...

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> I think there is a rule against sensationalized titles.

<comment><USER9> There is a rule against submitters editing titles to be more sensationalist, but in this case, the submitter copied the submission's title verbatim.

<comment><USER8> I don't think that is true. There have been cases in the recent past where the mods changed titles because they were overly sensational, even if they were the original title.

<comment><USER9> Well, the guidelines say:

> [Please] use the original title, unless it is misleading or linkbait; don't > editorialize.

This sounds like the submitter MAY tone it down, with "MAY" like in RFC 2119.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Don't forget the inability to install add-ons (i.e. ad-blockers) in Android Chrome.</comment>


European Carriers Want Google, Facebook to Contribute to Mobile Data Costs - <AUTHOR> http://www.tomsguide.com/us/Vodafone-France-Telecom-Facebook-mobile-data,news-9308.html <comment><USER2> You mean, the first time I had a reason to use (the expensive) mobile bandwidth, the carriers are unhappy?</comment>


A coin has 51% chance of falling on the side it started on  - <AUTHOR> http://comptop.stanford.edu/u/preprints/heads.pdf <comment><USER2> Great Research. Just reading it.</comment>


Experienced SaaS entrepreneurs: please get in touch - <AUTHOR>

Hi - I'm looking to chat with entrepreneurs with previous SaaS exits. Am in the enterprise solutions space, have traction and could use advice. Thank you. email@example.com <comment><USER2> You might try asking around on [http://discuss.bootstrapped.fm/](http://discuss.bootstrapped.fm/) \- there are a few people there.</comment>


Is language unique to humans?  - <AUTHOR> http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20121016-is-language-unique-to-humans

<comment><USER2> _"We're sorry but this site is not accessible from the UK as it is part of our international service and is not funded by the licence fee. It is run commercially by BBC Worldwide, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the BBC, the profits made from it go back to BBC programme-makers to help fund great new BBC programmes. You can find out more about BBC Worldwide and its digital activities at www.bbcworldwide.com."_

What the fuck? I mean what reason is there to _actively prevent_ us seeing free content?

<comment><USER3> A workaround, from the author no less!

[http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=pt&tl...](http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=pt&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.com%2Ffuture%2Fstory%2F20121016-is- language-unique-to-humans)

[https://plus.google.com/u/0/114046998698228319586/posts/GpH9...](https://plus.google.com/u/0/114046998698228319586/posts/GpH9ETaQSD5)

<comment><USER4> Proving, yet again, that any form of "DRM" or "Copyright" hurts more creators than it helps.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> _Like sentences, the catalogue of human actions is infinite. We stretch, bend, and kick. We build bridges and prepare meals. We perform an endless variety of dance routines. We make paper airplanes. A complex action, like hammering a nail, can be broken down into its constituent actions – grasping, striking, reaching – just as a sentence can be broken into its units – nouns, verbs, adjectives. In 1951, cognitive psychologist Karl Lashley proposed a link between language and action. "Not only speech," he wrote, "but all skilled acts seem to involve the same problems of serial ordering, even down to the temporal coordination of muscular contractions in such a movement as reaching and grasping." Just as a stream of speech does not contain explicit pauses between words, fluid actions like nail hammering do not contain breaks between their components. Yet humans effortlessly parse speech streams and action sequences into their parts._

I've found this part most interesting. I wonder if it's just the general pattern matching at work or something more.

<comment><USER6> You can read an interesting argument for that in On Intelligence:

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_Intelligence>

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> I think that the language is actually the reason why we have such big brains. If speaking was just a bit harder we couldn't do it.

When you rough up brain a little bit during surgery speech problems is the first thing to expect even if you never touched anything near speech centers. Even when you are just tired speech is one of the first things that get affected.

Even perfectly healthy well rested average person is awful at speaking. We are not usually aware of that because we don't pay the close attention to all little flaws.

When I observed carefully my partner after she had craniotomy to spot any signs of any possible post surgery complications I stared noticing how much other people mess up their talk.

<comment><USER8> I don't disagree speech is hard, but _everything_ gets messed up when you are tired or recovering, e.g. eye hand coordination. It's just that its easier to spot it when speech is less than perfect, then when coordination is less than perfect.

<comment><USER7> I agree that a lot of things are messed up when you are tired or recovering but after brain surgery she was in perfect condition except functions located it the region of the brain that was operated on and her speech. After all the youtube videos I watched to prepare myself for this I came to believe that impaired speech is one of the most common side effects of any brain surgery.

Anyway, my point is that even people in perfect condition have very hard time speaking. Even if you are well rested, healthy and calm you and the people you know mess up a lot more words than you think.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> I think the answer is no, and that the main difference between human language and other languages is its grammatical structure.

The languages of other creatures seem to be context free, or just regular expressions of the type "if your hear sound X replace that with concept or behavior Y". Human language is a lot more generative and context dependent, allowing nested or recursive structures. A Turing Complete language allows arbitrary types of machines to be supported within the culture. Of course in practice these machines are never completely arbitrary, since there are plenty of biological constraints.

<comment><USER10> > The languages of other creatures seem to be context free, or just regular > expressions of the type "if your hear sound X replace that with concept or > behavior Y".

I find this interesting but I'm not sure I fully understand. Could you give an example? (Hypothetical is fine!)

<comment><USER11> Bees communicate a remarkable amount of accurate info about the amount of food available at a particular source & where that source is. The other bees immediately respond by going there, in appropriate numbers to get it. I don't think people really understand exactly how all this works, but the assumption is that it's probably pretty mechanical. IE, the same way that the tasty sensation maps directly to your swallow action, dancing maps to a bee's "go that way" action.

I think that this is that this is just an assumption based on bees' small brains. We don't really know if how fundamental the difference between bee dance understanding and human language understanding. We don't really know the mechanics of either.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> > We're sorry but this site is not accessible from the UK as it is part of our > international service and is not funded by the licence fee.

too bad, it sounds interesting !

<comment><USER13> As you might run into restrictions like these on a regular basis, let me point out some ways to easily surpass them.

-) For Firefox: _Modify Headers_

-) For Chromium/Chrome: _Header Hackers_

I am accessing this site (from Europe) without problems through Firefox (and i activated all scripts temporarily to make sure it's not a blocked script that's "blocking the block" from appearing)

<comment><USER12> Thanks, I'll give that a try.

Otherwise, web2pdfconvert.com or an email to firstname.lastname@example.com with the URL as content helps a lot :)

<comment><USER14> printfriendly.com too offers pdf export of simpler refformated css, free.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> Other animals have much in common with us: able to navigate their environment, recognize specific objects etc, they have emotions of fear, anger, affection. And they have some problem-solving ability.

They also have a lot less brain hardware than us - even chimpanzee brains are smaller and are much less folded. So even if they could do what we do, they couldn't do it as well as us.

But I think what is special about human intelligence and language is a difference in kind. I'm thinking of the difference between regular grammars, context free grammars, context sensitive grammars and turing equivalent grammars (though the actually demarcation could be quite different).

I think it's possible for a creature, far less intelligent than us, to have our level of sophistication in this sense. Unfortunately, without powerful hardware to store all the entities and connections and relate them to the world, it wouldn't help a creature to survive, so I can't see it evolving naturally.

If you have very little silicon you're better off devoting it to hardwired reactions, with a little configurability - and not even have recursion.

</comment><comment><USER13> I seriously doubt the capabilities of animals when it comes to language.

Sure they have a wide spectrum of gestures and facial expressions (of course especially apes or gorillas, with which we share a great amount of our genetics), but do they really understand?

Is the record of "Alex" the Grey Parrot impressive?

Yes, but don't forget that a qualified animal researcher and scientist made it her life's project to teach this parrot.

I think that most animals just learn to loosely "say"/do things when it's wanted from them, because of very loose connections and patterns they recognize, not certainly as a way of deep emotional expression.

 _Maybe someone has Sources for Neurological Studies on this?_

Could in my opinion clarify a little bit, what these animals actually "think" while issuing sign language gestures or while talking, therefore maybe unraveling their real capabilities of understanding.

<comment><USER16> Regarding Sources for Neurological Studies: this paper [1] by Michael Arbib explores the neural and functional grounding of language skills in humans and their ancestors.

[1] Michael A. Arbib, From monkey-like action recognition to human language: An evolutionary framework for neurolinguistics, Behavioral and brain sciences 28, 2005, pp. 105-124. PDF: <http://users.ecs.soton.ac.uk/harnad/Temp/arbib- bbs.pdf>

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> Animals can without doubt use symbolic systems, whether the sounds they naturally make, or the systems researchers teach them. But symbolic systems are not languages.

Symbolic systems can work because both communicating parties will share the system. But an important feature of language is that it can be used to communicate ideas which are not shared - you can communicate something that the listener has never heard before, and in fact, you can communicate something which no one has ever even thought before (well assuming that's actually possible.)

One thing to show that these symbolic systems were languages would be to teach the meaning of a new symbol to these animals using only the existing symbols. I don't know if these researchers have tried, but I don't expect that it will be possible to. Language is the probably the defining feature of humanity.

</comment><comment><USER18> Related, interesting questions: is language unique to thought? Is thought possible without words?

<comment><USER19> Yes it is. Example - sometimes people are "tongue-tied" - they know what they want to say, but can't remember the word for that.

<comment><USER20> Is that really a "thought" though, or is it just a feeling/intuition/primordial emotional concept up until the point that it can be congealed into words?

<comment><USER21> What's the difference between "feeling/intuition/primordial emotional concept" and thought for those who aren't dualists?

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> Another good article about ant communication: [http://www.cell.com/current- biology/retrieve/pii/S0960982206...](http://www.cell.com/current- biology/retrieve/pii/S0960982206018343)

And if you believe on: <http://quran.com/27/18-19>

</comment><comment><USER23> I'm certain that Programming Languages are! :)</comment>


The REAL Death Of The Music Industry - <AUTHOR> http://www.businessinsider.com/these-charts-explain-the-real-death-of-the-music-industry-2011-2

<comment><USER2> Could anyone shed some light on the vast disparity between these figures and the ones that come from Nielsen Soundscan?

These graphs come from the RIAA data which have always tracked shipments, not sales (except, presumably, for digital) from the music companies themselves.

Nielsen Soundscan tracks data from actual sales, and shows sales of billions less than the RIAA data. These tracked sales have been growing steadily for the past 10 years.

Could the RIAA data include shipments outside the US? Could shipments be so wildly out-of-sync with actual sales? How could the distribution channels be stuffed with so many times more merchandise than is actually consumed?

Soundscan here: [http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/industries/media- entertainment/...](http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/industries/media- entertainment/music.html)

<comment><AUTHOR> I can't see the soundscan charts, but some of the later charts are inflation adjusted, are you comparing those to Nielson's possibly non-inflation numbers?

Regardless, I think it's more interesting to look at the proportions from one year to the next than to compare the dollar value.</comment></comment>


Developers at Rest – Hacking the Code Interview – Part I – The Plan for a Plan - <AUTHOR> https://restfuldeveloper.blogspot.com/2017/04/hacking-code-interview-part-i-plan-for_20.html <comment><USER2> Returns "Blog not found".</comment>


Video mixing chess games on tv in Norway using Ethernet Shield - <AUTHOR> http://blog.arduino.cc/2014/08/28/video-mixing-chess-games-on-tv-in-norway-using-ethernet-shield/

<comment><USER2> The NRK article is the more interesting read with lots of in-depth technical info [http://nrkbeta.no/2014/08/13/nrk-breaks-new-ground-to- show-c...](http://nrkbeta.no/2014/08/13/nrk-breaks-new-ground-to-show-chess- on-television/)

Looks like they generated the real-time TV graphics with HTML5, and then reused that same HTML5 for their webpage. The Arduinos were used to automatically control video switchers in sync.</comment>


Hacker News Points Inflation - <AUTHOR> https://taimur.me/hn-inflation/?hn <comment><USER2> Eyeballing the lower and upper quartile looks like the shape of the front page distribution is roughly the same. Now if we do this for subsequent pages and can fit past and present shapes with linear scaling, I'd say there's nothing to concerned about here.</comment>


Ask HN: 4 Hour Body Challenge - <AUTHOR>

Is anyone else reading the 4 hour body and interested in the weight loss section.  My brother and I are starting on the 10th of this month.  I've already noticed small changes in how I eat before the official start.<p>Anyway, is there anyone else that would be interested in publicly documenting their progress? If so post below or shoot me an e-mail: email@example.com <comment><USER2> Haven't seen this. What is it?

<comment><USER3> Its a new book by Tim Ferriss.</comment></comment>


Calling Out My Rapist - <AUTHOR> http://www.nathalielawhead.com/candybox/calling-out <comment><USER2> Wow. If true, that is a terrible experience. If partially true, she's open to a libel suit. Implying that Jeremy abuses women and possibly children based on his allegations of abuse he or others experienced. Claiming that Jeremy colluded with the CEO to fabricate cause for termination.

But talk about burying the lede. "He raped me." Somewhere lost in the middle of a long rambling story. I won't discount a very serious accusation simply because its presentation is so poor, but working in design, she should know that coherent, concise presentation matters.

Regardless of what a jury their peers decides, the whole thing sounds miserable, and I hope she finds some peace.</comment>


Yes You can be a digital nomad - <AUTHOR> https://soundcloud.com/paul-kemp-1/tagp488-james-abbott-yes-you-can-be-a-digital-nomad <comment><USER2> Astonishing and insightful episode. Please post the RSS feed here.</comment>