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decades ago – i made a couple observations of the psychological sort – purely anecdotal – not researched – no proof to offer – and no understanding of the why and wherefores

>> Clutter vs Spaghetti

observation – the level of desktop clutter of computer programmer is inversely proportional to the cleanliness of his computer program

type 1 – a programmer with a clean desktop will write code that looks like a debris field – difficult to follow and maintain – it will be a long and meandering list of steps with lotsa Goto’s redirecting the process to other parts of the code – this was called “spaghetti programming” cuz if you draw lines from each Goto to the place in the program it goes to – the result looks like a clump of spaghetti – the resulting code has a high potential for errors

type 2 – a programmer with a messy desktop has his code carefully laid out so that it’s easy to read and understand – it will be organized into modules with almost no Gotos cuz it doesn’t need them – and there will be plenty of helpful comments within the code to clarify the programmer’s thinking

i was a type 2 – i had notoriously messy desktops and really clean code – most programmers i encountered were type 1’s

this behavior may apply to engineers and architects too – with their working material neat or in disarray – and maybe to working mathematicians – tho i don’t know how it would manifest

>> Language and Logic Cycles

observation – language fluency is cyclical – logical thinking is cyclical – the cycle of one is inverse to the cycle of the other

i noticed that my level of articulateness in speaking and writing – would be fluent for days at a time – then several days later – i would struggle to find the right words

and i noticed that my facility for writing code – which I consider analogous to logical thinking – follows a cycle too – sometimes code will flow out of me and require few fixes afterwards – but after some days – i would struggle to write code – and what i wrote would have an unhappy amount of errors

these two cycles seemed to cycle inversely to the other –  language fluency would be at its height – while coding skills were at their poorest – and vice versa

if i ever get into a public debate – i want to be the midpoint of my language & logic cycles – when i am reasonably proficient in both – rather than at the extremes

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i’ve never delved further into these phenomena – i’ve only tested them informally – by observing 

they have given me an idea of how personal experiences can lead to hypotheses – then to theories – that might ultimately be subjected to scientific rigor – and maybe wide acceptance 

however – i am concerned that they could lead me to stereotyping people – so i choose to be careful about applying these judgements