Where do you think?

[The Little Guy]

Just wondering, when you get stuck on something programing or not, where is it you go or can go, that will help you solve some sort of issue or just do some major brainstorming?

 

For me when I get stuck or just want to brainstorm, I just take a shower And millions of thoughts come to me!

[corbin]

For me when I get stuck or just want to brainstorm, I just take a shower And millions of thoughts come to me!

 

*Insert inappropriate  joke here*

 

 

 

Anyway, I don't typically get stuck on things so much as every now and then I have to stop and do a quick mental sanity check where I think about how everything is acting with everything else and make sure the design makes sense.  If I do come across something that stumps me though, or I can't think, I typically watch TV, play games, or just random other stuff.

 

 

Edit:  I guess that doesn't really answer the place question....  I guess just where ever .

[roopurt18]

I don't usually get stuck with implementation details anymore; what nags me are design decisions.

 

How can I make this portable?  What else does it need?  How hard would it be to add X feature even though it's not needed now, but would be useful in the future?  How can I refactor this to be more maintainable?

 

There are so many occasions when you come to a fork in the road in terms of design.  Whenever I reach the fork I try to put off my decision for a day or two if I can.  I'll change gears to a different project or a different sub-task of the same project.  Often times this little break helps me see the light!

 

I find that my major decisions are made frequently in the same places however:

 

1) On the shitter

2) While driving

3) While painting

4) Shortly after waking up -- I think every programmer has experience problem solving while sleeping

[mikesta707]

Usually take a smoke break. that generally helps me think

[Garethp]

Eh. When I come across a problem, I either sleep, take a shower, watch tv, play computer games or watch anime. I pretty much do whatever I can to distract myself. I find that if I disctract myself, I'll come back with a new perspective, and that in itself helps solve the problem. With a new perspective I usually come back and find that the problem was easy.

 

Otherwise, I take a nice long shower and try to reverse engineer the problem. I think "Hm. This is what I need. So to do that, I need something that's searchable in this format. Which means that my inputs have to be manipulated to that way. So I'll have to use xxx".

 

Usually takes two or three showers if it's a tough one

[nrg_alpha]

When I get stuck, I tend to go for long walks (not on the beach though.. there are none here). I find that walking while running problems in your mind and hunting for solutions (and ultimately finding them) is very therapeutic. If that still doesn't work, then I turn to Google for advice.

[Daniel0]

I never think, so I don't have that problem. I just do something random all the time.

[Lamez]

I see a lot of people do something to distract them, like video games, I don't. I break out a marker and start writing my goal down on the white board, what I should do to get that goal, and things of that nature. If I don't get anywhere with that method, then I am probably too tired to program. So I go to bed. That is when algorithms start popping in my head. Sometimes I can't figure out why my code is not working, so I go to bed, like I said, I was probably too tired. Then when I wake up, look at the code I start to notice all sorts of syntax errors.

 

At work I just grab a energy drink and program till we close, I love it.

[nrg_alpha]

I never think, so I don't have that problem.

 

Why didn't I think of that?!? 

[oni-kun]

Yes, I believe proper practices are now subconscious, so just code on and on and on until you create a painting of code. (sounds like a good plot for a movie..)

[ignace]

I never think, so I don't have that problem. I just do something random all the time.

 

Yeah I agree. Solved about 90% of my problems.

[Stooney]

When I'm stuck on anything I just load up WoW and fish.  Fishing in WoW is so mind numbingly exciting that I just zone out and think very clearly about whatever it is I need to.  This in turn gets me fish to cook, and that's a good thing.

[JonnoTheDev]

Swearing frantically, followed by smoking half a pack of cigs.

[lostprophetpunk]

1) On the shitter

Reminds me of Scrubs.

 

I just take about half an hour to an hour pre-occupying myself with playing Mario Tennis on the n64. That usually gets my thoughts rolling.

[cags]

The roof toilet...

 

I tend to end up thinking about it whilst I'm lying in bed trying to get to sleep, which is annoying because then I can't sleep. The way I normally overcome problems is to try and explain the issue to somebody that knows nothing about programming. Normally the process of simplifying it for descriptive purposes helps me wrap my head around where I'm going wrong.

[Adam]

Usually take a smoke break. that generally helps me think

 

Second that.

 

Really though just taking some time off doing anything helps get my head clearer.

[Ninjakreborn]

For me it varies, I work in a strange way. I don't just..work. I actually think...generally about 24 hours before I ever start working. I get a lot of the theories, ideas, and programming and functionality in my head entirely..then I write code. I rarely run into issues. When i do..then I stop for 2-3 hours and go work on something else..generally about 80% of hte time I figured it out in my head before I go back..generally from some random thought.  Although there are times when there is a deadline and I get stuck on something...in those situations I just pray, dig-in, and do what I can to make things happen..oh and PHPFreaks.com is always my fallback. Never fails if there is something I have no other way of figuring out.

[ignace]

Usually take a smoke break. that generally helps me think

 

I would do that to probably. But I don't smoke And those fake chocolate versions won't cut it!

[The Little Guy]

On the shitter

 

After I think about it, that is another place where I do some of my thinking too