It depends on the type of programming I am doing.
During heavy design or debugging, I tend to turn the music down or even off.
At other times, I have the design firmly in my head and am almost just transcribing it. At times like that, a little quiet music helps to drown out the surrounding noise.
Other engineers in my office have their own methods of tuning into or turning off the music. Some have no music while others use headphones rather consistently.
In other words, every programmer is different. Whether you have a particular editor that you work best with, a particular chair or keyboard, or whether you listen to music never, sometimes or always, it is getting the job done that matters.
Luckily, I work where my performance is monitored, not my individual selections that allow me to get my particular brand of performance optimization.
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It depends on the type of programming I am doing. During heavy design or debugging, I tend to turn the music down or even off. At other times, I have the design firmly in my head and am almost just transcribing it. At times like that, a little quiet music helps to drown out the surrounding noise. Other engineers in my office have their own methods of tuning into or turning off the music. Some have no music while others use headphones rather consistently. In other words, every programmer is different. Whether you have a particular editor that you work best with, a particular chair or keyboard, or whether you listen to music never, sometimes or always, it is getting the job done that matters. Luckily, I work where my performance is monitored, not my individual selections that allow me to get my particular brand of performance optimization.