Ask HN: Programming movies/music (to help get in the zone)

8 points by calloc 14y ago ↗ HN

I've lately been watching the movie Social Network over and over, along with Tron and Anti-Trust. These movies seem to put me into the right mental state to sit down and program for hours on end (mostly for work at the moment, but also some personal projects) without stopping.

Are there any other movies that you guys would suggest that do the same thing? Any other good movies about programming or that help you program?

I am also looking for good programming music. The sound tracks from both Tron and the Social Network are absolutely fantastic, but I am always looking for more suggestions!

5 comments

[ 6.3 ms ] story [ 28.9 ms ] thread

BlackJack 14y ago ↗

Is the output from programming "hours on end" worth the time wasted watching movies for "hours on end"?

X-Istence 14y ago ↗

I assume the op is much like myself in that I need some sort of background noise, and movies can be a great source. I personally enjoy Anti-Trust as well, and Tron: Legacy, but stuff like V for Vendetta or Hackers where I have seen the movie enough times to know the lines are great background noise that I don't have to pay attention to.

calloc 14y ago ↗

This is exactly the case. I need background noise and movies can be awesome in that regard.

frou_dh 14y ago ↗

I would cast your inspiration net wider than media that is zero or one steps removed from literal programming :)

It's a bit off the wall, but I enjoyed this a lot (American Movie): http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi3336241945/

You might like this documentary about Netscape programmers: http://clickmovement.org/coderush

fbuilesv 14y ago ↗

Robert X. Cringely has two documentaries that cheered me up a lot: Triumph of the Nerds and Nerds 2.0.1. There's also Pirates of Silicon Valley.

There are also two movies documenting the creation of Linux and open source (I forget the names right now) that you might want to look into.