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Music while coding is it worth?

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Overview

Liste to music while coding

Music is the art of arranging sounds in time through the elements of melody, harmony, rhythm for years human beings have punctuated their activities to make them more playful, more festive, more serious, whether in a football stadium animated by supporters or at parties to accompany the dance or during wedding ceremonies when the bride enters the church, in these different activities it has always been able to find her place.

For the developers regarding the place of music in their work, opinions are divided. We have those who consider that listening to music during their daily work is helpful, and those who think it doesn’t help them in their work. In this article, we will discuss both of these opinions.

Music is useful while coding

Studies conducted on developers have shown several positive effects on aspects concerning their work.

Those studies are :

  • The effect of music listening on work performance conducted by Dr. TERESA LESIUK

    ABSTRACT: This study measured the effect of music listening on state positive affect, work quality and time-on-task of computer information systems developers. Effects of music on work performance, in this case, software design, may be explained by increases in state positive affect. Data from 56 (male = 41, female = 15) developers were obtained from four different Canadian software companies. Data were collected in the participants’ actual work environments over five weeks. Results indicated that state positive affect and quality-of-work were lowest with no music, while time-on-task was longest when music was removed. Narrative responses revealed the value of music listening for positive mood change and enhanced perception on design while working. Evidence is provided of the presence of a learning curve in the use of music for positive mood alteration. Overall, the study contributes to the development of a model that aspires to elucidate music and workplace interactions; as well, it has implications for organizational practice.

  • The Sound of Software Development: Music Listening Among Software Engineers

    Abstract: Listening to music is a common phenomenon among software developers in today's work environments. Music can reduce stress, improve happiness, and even increase performance. We conducted two surveys with 2,242 professional software developers and found that between 63 and 88.2% of participants listen to music at work at least some of the time often when writing code or doing repetitive tasks, and that these listeners tend to be more extroverted.

  • Influence of listening to music on emotional state of programmers: Preliminary study

Remember that pleasant stimuli induce positive effects.

Music boost concentration

The zone (defined by the urban dictionary)

Several developers have already been in the zone and have had those different feelings. The stimuli can be multiple in our case that's the music when you reach the 'zone' your mind is 100% focused on what you are doing you have a massive increase in performance you are unaware of what's going on around you, and you dive into what's going on right in front of your face.

Indeed music sometimes plays the role of stimuli for developers when coding, and for the most part, it allows them to concentrate and give the best of themselves.

Music boost creativity

When you hear a specific piece of music, your brain will connect it to a particular sensation that you feel, have felt, or wish to feel & helps you relax. This way, you can put your thoughts together. Music gives most people a good mood relaxes the body, the mind, and the soul. Just remember more relaxed you become, the more creative you become.

Music boost motivation

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that enables communication within the nervous system and directly influences our behavior. Motivation is the component that manages the brain's commitment to a specific activity, to our behavior. Dopamine plays a role in almost every activity and behavior of our body, whether cognitive or physical (movement coordination, fine motor control, pleasure, memory, learning).

Dopamine and motivation are closely linked. Remember, pleasant stimulus induces positive effects. That stimulus for us while coding is music when you listen to music that you like, that you love, that makes you feel several things at the same time, that gives you strength, it helps you to move forward, to surpass yourself, to push you to continue even here it is difficult. That is the role of the music while you code, to trigger an action at the desired intensity ensure its continuation until the result(the good one solved problems).

For some, music is useless while coding

I think liking the music or not liking it while coding depends on the song, task, and individual personality. There are several types of developers who use many methods to increase their productivity, their concentration we can retain 3 types of them:

  • Those who need complete silence while they’re coding
  • Those who can work anywhere while just tuning out the noise in the background
  • Those who put on their headphones, throw on the perfect playlist, and get to work

The developer's main argument for saying music isn't helpful while coding is that it causes distraction, when you code you use your working memory to solve the problems you face, you use your mental bandwidth to manipulate multiple pieces of information at once.

Several studies agree that it is not the music itself that is the problem but rather the lyrics, the volume, the speed, the type of the music.

(Sorry, I didn’t find studies that involved software developers, or computer science, let me know if you get something on the internet.)

  • Background music: Effects on attention performance

    Abstract: Objective: Previous studies indicate that noise may affect worker attention. However, some background music in the work environment can increase worker satisfaction and productivity. This study compared how music with, and without, lyrics affects human attention. Participants: One hundred and two participants, aged 20–24 years, were recruited into this study. Fifty-six males and 46 females participated in this study. Methods: Background music with, and without lyrics, was tested for effects on listener concentration in attention testing using a randomized controlled trial (RCT) study. Results: The comparison results revealed that background music with lyrics had significant negative effects on concentration and attention. Conclusions: The findings suggest that, if background music is played in the work environment, music without lyrics is preferable because songs with lyrics are likely to reduce worker attention and performance.

  • Effects of background music on concentration of workers

    Results: We conclude background music influenced listener attention. This influence has more to do with listener fondness for the music than with type of music. Compared to situations without background music, the likelihood of background music affecting test-taker attention performance is likely to increase with the degree to which the test-taker likes or dislikes the music.

Very well, dear reader (whether you are a man or a woman) thank you for reading until the end, see you soon in a future article.

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