I worked 50 hours or so in hotel room during an expro trying to save a product that I knew wouldn't be ready before booth space was booked. I told them time and time again, no good. This was the company's first Windows based product. I couldn't make them understand that just because Windows has a bunch of builtin controls and MFC class libraries doesn't mean that you can write Word in 6 months.

I got a lot of we go every year. It wont be easy but you can do it (alone). If my resume had not have been so short and list of creditors so long iI wouldn't have even tried

I was working first semester and alpha was due, and the majority of our game wasn't working properly. For one, the team member in charge of the AI had coughed it up a mere two hours before the due date (which was extended) and I was in charge of getting it working, as it utterly broke our game. I also, prior to that, was rewriting very large portions of the game engine because it too was simply broken.

Was it worth it? I guess. Good for the experience.

36 hours is my record, but that was on a recreational project. I promised I wouldn't sleep until it compiled. In retrospect, I probably only made that vow because I'd already been at it for 24 hours, and I was completely fried.

I'm still waiting for MrMike, Kain and Rez to post. Esp. MrMike!

they're still chained to other keyboards

Yikes, sounds like the true college experience! I'm just getting into my serious stuff (junior year), so I'm sure your pal in the loin cloth will be on my back before I know it. He can stop by my dorm after he visits the stoners next door in the form of a large spider with an afro.

I don't know how, but time seems to fly by when you're in front of a keyboard, doesn't it? I could never sit in front of the TV for 24 hours, but put a cranky bit of code in front of me, and I'll be there for days (during my 36 hour stretch I took only five bathroom breaks). My most common symptom when I've been up for too long is looking at other people, thinking that they really shouldn't be awake at 38:00pm; I have some trouble with the loop-over effect.

One of the most interesting things is how extremely strenuous work will mess you up without you realizing it. Once during a week consisting of three 24 hour shifts, followed by a couple hours of sleep and high stress, I politely asked my brother to "turn down the snow in my room". He had to tell me a few days later, I don't remember that part at all .

...From the way I talk about it, you'd think C++ came in pill form :).

P.S. once again, Mike sets a standard that mere mortals can barely comprehend.

It wasn't coding - I was a teletype operator in the Army - but I put in 2 months straight of 3~6 hours-of-sleep weeks on a training op in Korea. I was a crew chief and my "crew" was not a radio operator. I was supposed to cross-train him. Every time my head hit a pillow there was some sort of crisis (the modem isn't working - because I can't locate the send switch on the radio). And I guess it wasn't all at a keyboard either - I spent a good portion of my off-shift time digging useless foxholes or making reports or arranging shower runs, etc. The thing about being a teletype operator is that you're attached to some other unit, like an infantry battalion, and you sort of have to fend for yourself most of the time if you want things like showers and hot food... heh.

Coding-wise, I've caught myself at the keys after 20~30 hours and decided that my rest was more important to solving problems than my persistence - the Army taught me the value of being rested and alert.

OMG!! 30, 36, 50, 107 hours, 2 months!! I am curious if this left any psychological behavior problems, drinking heavily, 3 a-day pack of menthols, Viagra... opps... I mean Valium?

OK, I was not programming, but when I was working on my theses for my masters, I was sitting at my computer typing and around 4:30 in the morning I forgot how to spell the word, "If". I had to get out the dictionary and look it up. Well you know that it doesn't help when you don't know how to spell the word your looking for! But I lucked out, I found "If" in Webster and thought to myself, "That doesn't look right!". So, I tried to find another word that I could use instead of "If" (Thesaurus). Well, I couldn't think of a word that I could substitute, so I just took my chances that it was spelled right. (Okay before you ask, I am NOT blond.) My brain kinda froze and I stated using words like; "Thingy", "Do-hicky", and 'Stratiligy". (Yep, I started sounding like Pres. Bush: 'the early years'). I finally gave up, and went to bed and slept for about 11 hrs. I would like to mention, that I have a clean bill of heath, and I have no permanent psychological or physiological (allegedly).


Me.
btw, I recived MBA 2 months ago, with honors.

Sometimes the sheer numbers aren't what does it to you. There are activities that could make me behave like that after only a few hours (and no, I'm not talking about drugs). Once I had to record a film for a class, and I decided I'd be cute and do a stop-motion animation featuring my computer, it was basically a story about what a programmer's computer does at night. The dialogue a long time to put together, then syncing it up was even worse. After only about 18 hours, I couldn't close my eyes without seeing my computer talking to me. I was awake all night that way.

But in response to your question: I don't usually notice anything long-term (I'm pretty young, I rebound fast). If I keep up the sleep deprivation for too long, I get extremely depressed. A lot of that has to do with not being out in the sun enough, and not having enough human contact. After that, my self-esteem starts to dip, and I start to replace my feelings with concern about uncontrollable things like death and world hunger. I'm getting better at it (learning to spot it helps), and I do little things to keep me cheerful; for example.

- I watch cartoons on long nights.

- I don't drink too much caffiene

- I leave cutesy voice-mails to my fiance

- I make sure I'm actually accomplishing something

- I changed my computer theme to light blues and greens

- I have a pet cactus to talk to when things get too quiet

- When things get really bad, I read a few pages from Dante's Paradiso. It's my all-time favorite book.

I like your solutions to cope with the whole issues of lonliness and depression after the sleep deprevation. I think I'll take a few of those into account, though there are some that I couldn't quite do. I mean, I don't have a fiancee, and if I still left her messages, I'm sure the whitecoats wouldn't show after long . . . damn them.

I'll take a look at some of those things.

The first and fifth are the two I really recommend. If there are no good cartoons on, I find a corny old sitcom to watch. The routine of the TV schedule helps calm me down. I can last about two extra weeks of long nights if I have something good on TV from 10 pm to 5 am.

Changing the colors on my computer did a world of good. Most people would get a headache, but when everything else is dark, my desktop can be my beacon of hope .

Already got the theme down, though I'm all about the soft blues on gray, although I have a silver theme going right now. For those of you who know WindowBlinds themes, it's the Azure theme. With a background that I found on Deviant. It's awesome.

Oh yes, and I do have intentions of getting a cat this upcoming semester. I figure, cat'd be better then trying to date/find a young lady considering my odds and schedule . . .

Me: "Hey! I make video games do you want to go out with me???? plzkthx!!"

Perhaps I should introduce myself with a more . . . foreign name?

"Hello, my name is Raul . . . I am from Spain. Raul will show you many things, but Raul will not beg . . ."

"I'm Raul, no...wait! I'm not Mexi..."

"...damn, there goes another one"

Old Man: "What is your quest?"
Raul: "I seek the madd chix."

My best was around 56 hours. I was working on a project that was supposed to keep me happily self employed for another 9 months, so abusing myself was completely in the right. At any rate, it was about 2:30 in the morning and time to take a break.

(The game was a retro shoot-em-up) I went outside to have a cigarette, and to my amazement I could see the previous two days of coding/testing in front of my face... it wouldn't go away. Was probably the weirdest thing I'd had happen to date.

Not as good as some peoples stories, but was definately odd :D.

[edit] Yes, we all like monty python as well