this post was submitted on 18 May 2024
432 points (99.1% liked)

Science Memes

10207 readers
4071 users here now

Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!

A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.



Rules

  1. Don't throw mud. Behave like an intellectual and remember the human.
  2. Keep it rooted (on topic).
  3. No spam.
  4. Infographics welcome, get schooled.


Research Committee

Other Mander Communities

Science and Research

Biology and Life Sciences

Physical Sciences

Humanities and Social Sciences

Practical and Applied Sciences

Memes

Miscellaneous

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

https://arxiv.org/abs/2404.10002

Abstract (emphasis mine):

The concept of a 'Ballmer Peak' was first proposed in 2007, postulating that there exists a very specific blood alcohol content which confers superhuman programming ability. More generally, there is a commonly held belief among software engineers that coding is easier and more productive after a few drinks. Using the industry standard for assessment of coding ability, we conducted a search for such a peak and more generally investigated the effect of different amounts of alcohol on performance. We conclusively refute the existence of a specific peak with large magnitude, but with p < 0.001 find that there was a significant positive effect to a low amount of alcohol - slightly less than two drinks - on programming ability.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 months ago (1 children)

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…

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Really? I've written code so advanced while drunk that I couldn't even understand it the next day, but it did what it was supposed to do and solved complex issues.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

If you can’t understand it, is it high quality?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I have no idea! But it looked very complicated and advanced, and did what it was supposed to do. LOL

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago

I mean maybe that just means you were bad at naming which is the hardest part! When I’m sober I spend a lot of thought on naming things, and when it gets skipped over while drunk I’m just like wtf did I write?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago

So you're saying you can't write readable code while drunk