Why do some developers listen to music while they code?

If I'm learning something new, silence. If I'm doing something that I already know how to do, I listen to music to kind of get in a flow.

I do it because the headset keeps my ears warm in our cold office!

I listen to music with no vocals. That does not need me to focus on the music and acts like background white noise. This helps me focus on the job at hand. I can avoid hearing people talking and getting distracted. It is a noisy kind of silence!

As a "developer" (Read: Junior person who knows barely anything at this point), and an individual with Autism, music my way of drowning out unexpected noises. When there are people talking, or noises occurring around me , I will inadvertently attempt to isolate and figure out what those noises are. With music (Mainly stuff that I know the lyrics to) I don't focus on that, since I know what the noise is. It leaves me to concentrate on my problem solving.

In my situation, I work in a kind of noisy environment, so I hear music to abstract myself from all the talking and laughing and whatnot. I mostly hear music I already know, and that's more rock, pop, hip-hop etc... to help me get in the mood. If I'm focused working, normally after one or two songs I get so into "the zone", that when I'm out, the playlist is over :p

IMO, music helps you get into "flow".

From my personal observation when working & listening to music, I see two patterns:

1) There are times when coding with music makes you super-productive (often when you know what you are solving and need to actually code it).

2) There are times where you need silence to concentrate & solve / understand the problem at hand. If all your mental capacity goes towards that problem, then - music can be distracting.

But in the end - it all depends on the person & the context ;)

A list of things I listen to while coding:

Artists:

• John Hopkins
• Steven Wilson

Albums:

• Passage by Ulrich Schnauss & Jonas Munk - open.spotify.com/album/4Aumawi2PZu...
• Kid Velo by Rival Consoles - open.spotify.com/album/6nj966rHe5u...
• Becoming X by Sneaker Pimps - open.spotify.com/album/6GJzRv7WrIU...

And many more.. anything with a good groove for coding fast without thinking, and no music at all for planning ahead without coding (whiteboard, note book).

I listen alternately to trance (Above & Beyond etc.), soundtracks (movie and game) and classical. While trance occasionally has vocals they are usually really short and simple so they are not much of a distraction. Overall electronica fits my silicon based lifestyle the best. Actually music not only does it help me focus, it keeps me from bothering the people around me. I tend to talk to myself a bit and I like interacting with my co-workers (to their detriment from time to time). With tunes that are not very singable I tend to not sing (not singing is my gift to mankind). As far as classical goes nothing for me beats Debussy.

I'm a person that enjoys good rhythm and doesn't notice lyrics in most occasions. When I start coding I need to have music with me (which depends on my mood but it's mostly some electronic). That music makes me to isolate surrounding noises, and makes me focus on the work that I'm doing. After some time I'm so into coding that I even stop noticing the music. It happened to me a couple of times that I ended from electronic music to some metal or so music without me even noticing that until I stopped working. :)

Sometimes when I'm stuck, a little bit of distraction will break the ideas loose. Having the right music (depends on my mood) can help keep my thoughts moving forward.