Yes, if you are willing to deal with the addiction. I've used modafinil from an indian pharmacy for a couple years now and it works great -- the biggest problem is that I just forget to take it.
Personal ranking in order of both effectiveness and least physical-harm\withdrawal:
Somehow the thought of close air support pilots on 2C-I does not fill me with confidence.
What dosages are you talking about? 2-5mg? 10-25mg?
Am I tripping balls or did you just suggest a 2C compound for improving cognition?
There's been some discussion about using subthreshold doses of LSD to improve cognition, maybe the same theory can hold for a small dose of 2C(under 5mg).
2C-D actually was alleged in PIHKAL to be cognition-enhancing in sub-5mg doses.
What do these do? You just stay alert and don't feel sleepy for a while? I've read the article but I'd like to hear some personal perspective...
Adderall is mix of a couple amphetamines with slightly different half-lifes (so the come-up\crash is smoother). Amphetamine is basically the classic stimulant to which all others are compared. It is extremely common in competitive universities in the U.S. where many students use it to cram\finish papers. If you take it everyday, you will be very motivated and feel great for ~1 month, after which you are back to baseline concentration levels when on it until you take a break for a week. Amphetamine depletes magnesium and increases muscle tension. I personally find it only increases my efficiency on very repetitive tasks such as cleaning or doing laundry and hinders creative work by causing too much hyperfocus. I would not recommend it and think there are much better alternatives but your mileage may vary.