Ask HN: Non-programming activities to improve coding skills?

My answer might be a little off, but even if programming skills are essential, they are not the only thing that matter.

Being able to speak in public, express clearly your ideas (either orally or written), being able to consider the opposite point of view, take into account the past and history when making a decision or a judgment are (IMO) essential skills.

To be more at ease when speaking publicly, you could play in a play or do some impro. Joining a debating club will also help in that and will force you to consider an opposing point of view. Reading and writing, analyzing arguments will help to better structure your arguments. Reading about history and being curious about everything will help to open your views before making any decision.

Otherwise: category theory (abstract maths), the link between physics and computation (see Feynman's lectures on computation).

Exercise. Lifting weights, running, playing tennis/football/basketball/etc. In college I used to mentally review and visualize algorithms and other CS concepts during long 10+ mile runs. I always came home with new insights. Even if I'm not thinking anything technical, after exercise I'm always mentally invigorated. Also a good night's sleep will improve every aspect of your life.

Think about the data structures to represent things. Your friends, the schedule at your gym, the ingredients in your coffee, etc.

I'd encourage kids to do this as well, before they actually start making programs.

Strive to build a startup. This includes coming up with ideas, design, business skills, marketing, etc. This is the best way to optimize for learning everything "around" coding that will make you a much more valuable programmer.

Write or speak(blogging or youtube channel). Get awesome at communicating your ideas, while also building your authority, and a platform with an audience that you may find valuable for many reasons - selling your products, finding a job, etc.

Develop social and networking skills. It's hard but it pays off.

Take care of your health. Eat well, exercise. If you do well, you'll stay sharp, capable, productive. If you fail, it will set you back many years.

Read or listen to audiobooks to acquire general wisdom. Get an audible account and a good podcasting app, download a bunch of things you're curious about, and enjoy them during the commute/exercise/chores time.

Keep learning - watch Udemy courses, read books on CS and engineering, etc.

Don't know if this fully counts since it abstracts away the "programming" part of it but I have found the game Opus Magnum to be great fun (http://store.steampowered.com/app/558990/Opus_Magnum/). The object of the game is to control various machines to make molecules, you control the machines by giving them instructions like rotate one turn or pick up what you are hovering over. I have found it to be like programming but with enough abstraction that it makes me think pretty hard. Plus it is really fun to optimize things after you build them.

Emotional intelligence. You will certainly need to work with other people and a higher emotional intelligence helps you work more effectively with other people.

You'll understand your project's goals better, you'll work with your team more efficiently, and you'll manage your own emotions better.

There are two techniques for improving emotional intelligence in this article I wrote: https://www.climbuptheladder.com/the-importance-of-emotional....

Develop an interest in basic electronics and make DIY hobby projects involving electronic circuits. Since it involves physical construction and failures can be costly in terms of time and money, careful checking and rechecking of plans, circuits and any microcontroller code before switching it on becomes an automatic habit.

I found these habits carrying over to my pure software projects resulting in less bugs.

And if you really want to take this idea to the extreme, learn to build power supplies and other projects involving mains electricity - a mistake there can mean it's the last bug you'll ever write!

Learn a creative skill like cooking, drawing, painting, or sculpting. For me - I always tend to see my art as a metaphor to programming. Each step in the process is a small function, and each finished piece (meal, painting, etc) is like a working program. Sometimes it needs to be refactored, other times it's fine as it is.

A lot of programmers I know don't have a creative side to them. The programmers and engineers I respect the most all have a unique and creative outlook on life, which shows in their CS work.

There's always 'recreational mathematics' -- puzzles of the type Martin Gardner was known for.

On the less STEM side, taking a look at what's around you and trying to reverse-engineer the reasons behind design decisions is also useful. Why do zippers have that little nub on them? Why is jaywalking a crime? Why are red lights red rather than blue? Sometimes this is a matter of path dependence, but other times there's some deeper reason.

Dancing. I am learning Tango and apart from it being an absolutely amazing multi-disciplinary education (kinestetic, musical, emotional, relational, social, how to learn and more), it rewires my brain in new, delightful and unexpected ways.

I can’t recommend it enough and I need to disclose that it is difficult to extremely difficult in all its aspects and will reveal your reflection in all these dimensions and more.

Any activity that lets you practice curiosity and creativity. Make music, play video games, figure out why the WiFi is spotty in that one room.

Also, learn to type fast.

Read books, especially fiction. For me, reading science fiction significantly increased my creativity and problem solving skills at work.

Here are a few tips

- Creative writing

- Exercise