But I think being distressed is distinct from the ability to do what the grandparent describes. There is a lot of physical joy in experiencing music, and that was probably lost to him to an extent.

I can imagine writing code with my eyes closed, I can even "see" the architecture and structure of it all in my mind's eye

I doubt it’s just that. I can imagine code with my eyes closed too, but it would be a wild exaggeration to say that losing the ability to see wouldn’t make it more difficult to do professional software engineering.

right, doing it would be harder because our tools are all visually oriented. But you could still describe the process in great detail to someone who could type it for you, and your expertise is still there. When I play the piano, my hands naturally move to the notes I want to hear, before I hear physically hear them play the notes.

My point is, you don't type code and then look to see if it is right, you type what you know you want. Likewise, he didn't play a note to check if it was the right one, he knew.

(and of course, what do I actually know about beethoven's workflow, but if I can do it to an extent, I'm sure he could)

Are you saying you don't need to read or run your code to debug it? You just mull it over and run it in your head?

In the context of the analogy to composing music, yes!

The analogy wasn't the best one, I'm not claiming to be some savant, but absolutely. For a large class of problems, by the time I start typing, I know what I'm going to type.

You can get away with a lot in music that you can't in code. The first example that comes to mind is "ped simile", which means "keep using the pedal in a similar style" without prescribing the exact mechanics. There will be exception for different musical phrases, and the performer will interpret this subjectively. You couldn't ever write code with "logging simile" in your middleware, and expect the computer to subjectively get the logging correct. Computers are much dumber than performers.

A better analogy might have been writing code without ever evaluating it, kinda like you said, and yes. "hammock-driven-development" also comes to mind...

Well of course he was distressed. Even in late middle age my ears are pretty sensitive and I would much much rather go blind than deaf. I'm just saying the deafness didn't necessarily have an impact on how he composed, and that like most composers of his stature, he was "composing deaf" as a matter of routine by sitting at a desk instead of a piano.

> I would much much rather go blind than deaf.

I used to say this too, but I'm sure, whichever you chose, you would regret the decision. Make sure neither isn't an option first...