"...very few phenomena can pull someone out of Deep Hack Mode, with two
noted exceptions: being struck by lightning, or worse, your *computer*
being struck by lightning."
(By Matt Welsh)

hack mode: n.

1. What one is in when hacking, of course.

2. More specifically, a Zen-like state of total focus on The Problem that may be achieved when one is hacking (this is why every good hacker is part mystic). Ability to enter such concentration at will correlates strongly with wizardliness; it is one of the most important skills learned during larval stage. Sometimes amplified as deep hack mode.

Being yanked out of hack mode may be experienced as a physical shock, and the sensation of being in hack mode is more than a little habituating. The intensity of this experience is probably by itself sufficient explanation for the existence of hackers, and explains why many resist being promoted out of positions where they can code.

Some aspects of hacker etiquette will appear quite odd to an observer unaware of the high value placed on hack mode. For example, if someone appears at your door, it is perfectly okay to hold up a hand (without turning one's eyes away from the screen) to avoid being interrupted. One may read, type, and interact with the computer for quite some time before further acknowledging the other's presence (of course, he or she is reciprocally free to leave without a word). The understanding is that you might be in hack mode with a lot of delicate state (sense 2) in your head, and you dare not swap that context out until you have reached a good point to pause.

Geeks, hackers, programmers – call them what you will, everybody nowadays knows which group of programmers I am reffering to. Among us there is a concept known as deep hack mode.

Deep hack mode is a state of intense concentration engendered during programming to the exclusion of very nearly all outside stimulus.

In fact a hacker in deep hack mode is unlikely to hear you talking to him at all and usually it requires a physical touch to get his attention.Not that I would advise that – he will not thank you for it. Deep hack mode takes about an hour of intense work to get into, but by hackers can usually maintained for as much as 12-16 hours.

But any interruption that requires more thought than lifting a coffee mug or going to the loo takes you back out of it.There is a reason hackers go into deep hack mode – and it's done on purpose. It's impossible to describe deep hack mode to a non-hacker but mysticism provides a vocabulary to at least give an idea. In deep hack mode, you become one with your code. The algorithms flow from your mind to the screen with absolute clarity. It's not so much programming anymore as prophecy.

So what is deep hack mode ? Well neurologists actually reckon that it's a form of hyperfocus, a mental state very similiar to what top athletes call the the zone . Those who have the ability to hyper-focus are of course often (incorrectly) labeled as having concentration problems – this is crap. The difference is that if you can hyper-focus, you usually cannot focus partially. So you are either interested enough to hyper-focus, or you are literally going to feel sleepy when you are told to concentrate on something.

Hyperfocus is often treated as though it was a disease, in reality it's a powerful talent that allows one to achieve seemingly impossible feats. Virtually every one of the most important lines of code in the world was written by somebody in a state of deep hack mode. On the far opposite end of the mental scale is Flash mode.

Flash mode is where you get flashes of inspiration. It could be an idea for an amazing new program, or the answer to a problem that you could not even understand, let alone solve, before.Flash mode however requires the opposite mental state from deep hack mode.

Deep hack mode is an ideal mental state for churning out code – it allows you to take your skill as a programmer and translate it into genuine results with frightening efficiency. But it's a very wrong state for flashes of inspiration – which can be no less crucial. The best way to get a flash of inspiration is to leave deep hack mode, and go do something entirely different. Read a book. Watch a movie. Chat on IRC – anything not related in any way at all to the project you are working on (but don't work on a different project), let your subconscious play with the problem but keep your conscious mind occupied with something unrelated that is fun, destressing and relaxing.Then go to sleep.9/10 times, you will wake up knowing the answer. That is flash mode.