https://xkcd.com/323

There's obviously an xkcd for this

I've found that the best way to utilize alcohol when programming is to code sober and comment drunk. It's a wonderful way to make commenting both fun to write and to read later.

I have tried coding under the influence, but I can't do it. Even small amounts of alcohol makes it really hard to do anything complex. But if it works for you, good on ya.

"Ancient Persians reportedly debated big decisions twice: once drunk and once sober."

https://historyfacts.com/world-history/fact/ancient-persians-reportedly-debated-big-decisions-twice-once-drunk-and-once-sober/

Knew a guy in university that looked like a young Prince Charles that would pop half a tab of LSD whenever he ran into an issue he couldn't solve. Somehow that worked.

This was in the late 90s early 00s, well before Randall made the comic about The Ballmer Peak

I once worked in IT for an MSP that kept beer on tap in the office for this exact reason. Techs were encouraged to have a beer or two when stumped on an issue. It worked surprisingly well.

This did result in a few years of struggling with alcohol issues tho.

The idea that drinking helps has been around a lot longer than 2007. Since basically the discovery of alcohol. Yes, it can help with nerves a little bit, but none of your skills are improved, and most are impaired.

Alcohol is considered a performance-enhancing drug in darts.

For programming, it works the same way as playing music: your focus narrows. Your brain can't do other stuff, either because it's busy moving your neck in time with Meshuggah, or because it's been lightly poisoned by delicious ethanol.

This also works for pool. Don't ask me how I know.

In my experience I can write more code after a few drinks. However I usually find that the code is of low quality when I check it the next day…

I have written brilliant code while drunk that I didn't understand the next day. I doubt I could have even solved the problem sober.

This applies to a lot of physical activities as well. I have a friend who's a really good bowler, and every one of his 300 games (perfect score for you non-bowlers) has been when he's had exactly 2 drinks. He can't do it with less because he gets too nervous - and more means he gets too sloppy and loses his edge.

We joke and call beer "bowling juice".

I think this may be true for many things.

Surely that's work worthy of an IG Nobel prize?

The Unity office in Bellevue used to have beer on tap in the cafeteria. Idk if it still does what with all the fuckery going on... Maybe one day I'll actually go into the office and I can report back

Apparently Mr. Ballmer is a real programmer at Microsoft. Even better, he was still working at Microsoft in 2007 when the comic came out, but retired a few years later.

I tried coding while 420 once. Could not think straight.