🔒 Locked

Programmer Nightmares?

Started by Zorodius May 30, 2003 at 3:36 AM 41 replies 4.3k views

Original Post

May 30, 2003 at 3:36 AM

Anyone else get these? I bet some of you do. I have nightmares where I''m working on some code. The code is in a language which is unclear, and infinitely complex. I do not know what I am trying to accomplish, but I periodically feel as though I''ve moved closer towards a solution. Yet every time I move closer to a solution, the complexity of the problem increases. I''m unable to divine a syntax for the nightmare-language, but I feel like it possesses, in an abstract sense, the same logical structures as a real language. That seems to make sense, since while you''re sleeping, only the creative half of your brain is controlling your dreams, and not the half that is associated with structured rules such as written words, right? I learned that from a Batman cartoon, and they haven''t steered me wrong yet, so I assume it must be true. I feel like I get these a lot when I''m stressed. I think the reason that I feel like I get these more than any other nightmare is because they stimulate the "I must concentrate harder to solve this" response, which causes my mind to wake up more and more as I feel like the problem is increasingly difficult. By the way, the first person to say, "Nightmare language? Why, you must be using (perl/fortran/etc.)!!" is the most hilarious and creative person on the planet and will win the key to the city.

zer0wolf

May 30, 2003 at 3:40 AM

I disagree with the whole theory of not being able to read in your dreams and clocks being backwards or something like that. I''ve read in several dreams, its kinda hard though, I have to concentrate.

I don''t get programming dreams...

I lucid dream alot in fantastical alternate realities.

---------------------------------------------------
laziness is the foundation of efficiency
retrospiral.net | llamas! | megatokyo | FreeBSD | gamedev.net | google

Kuladus

May 30, 2003 at 10:36 AM

slightly off topis- after playing c&c (original) for 4 hrs a day for a couple of months straight i began noticing little crates out of the corner of my eye- when i wasn''t playing the game.

man computers furk u up hardcore.

...................................................

falkone

May 30, 2003 at 10:48 AM

I hear you.. school''s been getting more boring now that it''s the end of the year.. which means tetris on my ti86.... that combined with lack of sleep, and whenever i close my eyes i see tetris playing. The worst part of it is that i never get the blocks i need

capn_midnight

May 30, 2003 at 11:00 AM

I had been working on a tough Calculus problem one day, went to bed with it unfinished. During my sleep, I dreamt an answer, woke up, and found out it was right.

This also happens with my code occasionally. I''ll get stuck somewhere, go to sleep, and come up with an answer ten times better than what I thought it would be.

I also meet people in my dreams. I mean, I will dream of a person I have never met before, then later in my life I will meet them. The amount of time varies, could be a week, could be a few years, but I always remeber the dreams. I can tell which dreams they are too, because when I wake up I have this weird feeling that I''m still in the dream, and any emotions I felt during the dream carry over to the waking world.

Pain is the fire that tempers the soul. It is the feeling of fear leaving the body.
The Cutter Project|My Junk|Association of Computing Machinery

Jesper T

May 30, 2003 at 11:04 AM

Nighmare langueage!? you must be using umm.. FORTRAN! omgz lololo.. oh.. you were being sarcastic?!

smiley4

May 30, 2003 at 11:56 AM

I''ve had dreams about meeting people that I will later remember too. The brain must be able to hack into time or something.

spg

May 30, 2003 at 12:08 PM

You can read in your lucid dreams? You are one in a million apparently. I''ve done a ton of research, and lucid dream very frequently myself and it''s impossible.

Actually maybe this needs a clarification. You CAN read, but if you read something and then look back at it, it will be something completely different.

-- Steve --
Blue Fang Games

monkeyman

May 30, 2003 at 12:42 PM

I have lots of programming dreams where I''m constantly working on stuff, those don''t bother me though.

My worst programming dreams are when I have a cold or cough. I''ll be working as usual, and then when I run the program I''ll inevitably cough, and this is interpreted as a bug..

So, I go back into the code to see what''s not working, and it all looks good..I''ll run the program again, cough sooner or later, and then have to dog back through the code, and of course I can never find the bug.

I''ve had this happen this several times, and it''s usually an all night thing(as far as I can tell)..in the morning I wake up and feel like I haven''t accomplished anything

"Like all good things, it starts with a monkey.."

blueEbola

May 30, 2003 at 2:19 PM

Although I spend a lot of time programming, I''ve never had a dream about it..

Most of my lucid dreams take place in some totally unrelated and unusual side of reality, with people that I know and see in everyday life.

smiley4

May 30, 2003 at 2:21 PM

Maybe your energy fequency was tuned to the wrong reality causing you to see what is going on in a different reality.

allsorts46

May 30, 2003 at 2:28 PM

The only programming realted dream I''ve ever had was many years ago...

I was stuck in QBasic. I kept going File -> Exit, but nothing happened. Tried again, and again, and again. I tried all night, all the time getting more panicked.

Shortly after I started learning C++, which I''ve been with ever since. Maybe it was a sign... ?

"Because there''ll be no safety in numbers,
When the right one walks out of the door"

smiley4

May 30, 2003 at 2:30 PM

I had a dream once where I built Johny 5...

RikeyFitzer

May 30, 2003 at 2:36 PM

Y''all should see that movie Waking Life.

Michalson

May 30, 2003 at 2:39 PM

quote:
Original post by Zorodius
I have nightmares where I''m working on some code. The code is in a language which is unclear, and infinitely complex. I do not know what I am trying to accomplish, but I periodically feel as though I''ve moved closer towards a solution. Yet every time I move closer to a solution, the complexity of the problem increases.

You have nightmares about programming in COBOL too?

Witchcraven

May 30, 2003 at 2:44 PM

I often cannot seperate events from dreams and reality until a few hours after I wake.

MindWipe

May 30, 2003 at 3:02 PM

I know the feeling. But it''s not really dreaming.

Or alteast what I''m talking about. Same if I play a game a long time and is really sucked deep into it. Then when I go to bed it keeps playing in my head, and I must beat it, but ofcourse I can''t.

I MUST BEAT THE GAME! But the more I try the more impossible it gets, it''s hasn''t even been possible from the beginning. Yet I must do it. Then I sit up and go: I''m sitting on my bed, I''m not playing any game, the only thing I need to do is try to sleep.

Then I lie down and the game keeps playing >_<

Has happened with coding too.

X-Com: Enemy Unknown, Mario Kart has done this to me.

And then there was this other game not long ago... hmm, can''t remember witch. Or maybe it was some code that got stuck in my head!?!?

/MindWipe

Tron3k

May 30, 2003 at 3:04 PM

quote:
Original post by MindWipe
I know the feeling. But it''s not really dreaming.

Or alteast what I''m talking about. Same if I play a game a long time and is really sucked deep into it. Then when I go to bed it keeps playing in my head, and I must beat it, but ofcourse I can''t.

I MUST BEAT THE GAME! But the more I try the more impossible it gets, it''s hasn''t even been possible from the beginning. Yet I must do it. Then I sit up and go: I''m sitting on my bed, I''m not playing any game, the only thing I need to do is try to sleep.

Then I lie down and the game keeps playing >_<

I know this feeling. I have it too sometimes.

superpig

May 30, 2003 at 3:12 PM

I don''t dream any more.

Senses777

May 30, 2003 at 4:40 PM

quote:
Original post by superpig
I don''t dream any more.

Can I help?

Topic Locked

This topic has been locked by a moderator. New replies are not allowed.