Subj : Re: Constant interruptions and left brain - right brain thing To : comp.programming From : Simo Melenius Date : Thu Sep 29 2005 12:06 am Chris Sonnack writes: > I can't speak to the work modes of others, but it's not uncommon for > me to be--figuratively speaking--several "sub-routine calls" into a > process that requires successfully "popping each frame off the stack" > on the way back to the main process. Same here, and it causes no less than two different problems. When interrupted, first you start losing your mental flow on the computer problem as you're interrupted. Second, while that happens you're nevertheless partially still "in it". That means you probably don't understand -- or you just stare into a distance and plain ignore -- what the other guy was saying to you. Then you respond "Mmm-ummm, yeah, hmmm-hm" to get rid of him and end up both not knowing what was he actually trying to tell you AND losing your focus on the programming issue. :-( *** Except for interrupts which you can't always avoid, I have some habits to serialize the state of my mind if I have the time to do that. Those habits are useful if I know I have to leave and can't finish up something in time. Working on something that's "almost finished" would be pretty frustrating otherwise. Also, frequent requests to "come on!" eventually serve as those deadly non-maskable interrupts, so you want to shut down your mind gracefully before that happens. I think what the habits are is not important -- they're just random methods of writing down a note in your mind. In other words, they activate certain, carefully learned behaviour in your brain. Also, they're never perfect at restoring the state, but I find them undoubtedly useful often enough to keep using them. One of the best habits I have is deliberately broken source code. If the source doesn't compile/evaluate (and possibly has some key ideas or future sketches written in it in English, pseudocode, or the original language) the situation looks fairly promising the following day. I know the brokenness will bother me a lot which practically enforces me to fix the code somehow as soon as possible to make it compilable/runnable again. Now, when I start working on the exact same spot where I left, my mind starts remembering all the other details as well and I get a gradual dejavu. There's something learnable in it, because I didn't become really good at it until after working a few years in an environment where such an escape was practically a requirement. These days, in the best case I completely remember what I was essentially working on in a matter of 5-15 seconds. After an involuntary interruption that left you no time to build your mental mark, it could take hours in the worst case. br, S -- firstname.lastname@iki.fi -- Today is the car of the cdr of your life. .