It’s fitting that just after Apple sold its billionth song via the iTunes Music Store that I write about music. By the way, that was billion with a “B”. Amazing!
Oh yes… music. I find that I program way better when I’ve got my Sennheiser HD280 Pro’s plugged into my PowerBook. (Hmm there’s that “Pro” again.) I especially like listening to the “good songs i haven’t heard in a while” smart playlist. Not sure why this is, but I think it has something to do with your mental state and getting your brain into a good rhythm. I did a quick poll of some other Mac Indie friends and many of them agreed that music does indeed make your code flow more smoothly.
Music’s benefit for me varies a bit with my state of mind and a lot with the type of music. I find that music with a very repetitive, relentless rhythm (metal or some genres of electronica) can really help me stay in the zone and crank away at the code. Other types of music are too distracting; my association between jazz and leisure is so strong that I can’t get much work done while listening to jazz.
I haven’t kept track, but I also suspect that the type of programming task may influence whether music is a help or a hinderance. If I am fumbling with a new library or framework and don’t quite have my sea legs, music is sometimes a distraction.