>This is going to seem like a weird segue, and probably is. Years ago there was a discussion on the Compuserve FoxForum about the best music to code by. The participants in the discussion were practically a Who's Who of FoxPro developers. The most popular answer was probably Silence.

Absolutely.

Absolute silence.

I would go to work all week, 40 hours, and phones were ringing, people were talking printers were flaring up. I didn't do a thing. I took phone calls and helped customers, but truly great coding?

It never happend.

So I would go in for about 8 hours some night a week, say 10pm - 6am, and get about 40 hours worth of work done.

If you're working on something big, your entire mind needs to be clear of every other thought.

Also, having the oppurtunity to take a break for a cocktail or a spliff made it easier to problem solve in more than a few instances. That's when I'd crank up my tunes, something I also couldn't do during regular work hours.