Alright, I’m a second-year CS major at Virginia Tech, and have (hopefully) just completed a major project. Now, I’m curious if anyone has any good ideas for music to aid in concentration while programming. I like non-lyric techno music, as it is good for putting me in that semi-trance state in which the really good and really really really bad bits of my programs are written. I’ve also found one or two classical pieces to do similarly well. So, to the programmers of the Dope, what do you have playing when you are programming?
Hmm… I’m afraid I probably won’t be of much help to you, robertliguori, because most of the music I listen to has some sort of lyrics.
In fact, I don’t really listen to a particular type or genre of music, when I code. It really depends on the mood I am in, and what it is I am trying to program.
Recently I have found myself listening to a lot of They Might Be Giants, All American Rejects, Third Eye Blind, and Semisonic. As far as techno-type stuff goes, though, I personally like Dune and Daft Punk.
I would be interested in what other people program to, as well. Let’s hear yer playlists, code monkeys! 
LilShieste
I don’t program, but I’ll recommend two albums (especially the first) that fit your specifications.
Squarepusher’s Hard Normal Daddy.
Tri Repetae by Autechre.
I can’t listen to a damn thing when I’m coding hard. Either it’s distracting - no matter how unobtrusive it is - or it fades so far into the background that I don’t notice it at all. Quiet, IMO, is the key to good coding. But then again, I’m a old fogey.
Try the Pi soundtrack. It’s not easy to find, as it’s basically OOP and you’ll probably have to look on Half or eBay (I got my copy from Half).
I don’t code much, but listening to new or boring classical pieces helps me while studying/reading. I know it’s cliché, but Mozart (Classical) really helps (no Baroque, Romantic or later). Especially the symphonies I don’t like or haven’t developed a taste for. Currently, that’s the 35th. Keeps me on my toes. I listen to trance as well, but that’s not very conducive to maintaining serious attention for long. But in short doses, trance is very good for getting the adrenaline pumping.
The last two albums I coded to were Arcturus’s The Sham Mirrors and My Dying Bride’s Turn Loose The Swans. Nothing the OP would care for.
Try Talkie Walkie by Air and Simple Things by Zero 7.
I’m not a programmer, but Orbital II (otherwise known as the “Brown Album”) is pretty awesome and sounds perfect for what you’re looking for.
Expanding on my earlier recommendations:
Hard Normal Daddy (by Squarepusher) is a highly listenable, high-energy album, filled wih jazz-influenced techno music accompanied by Squarepusher’s amazing fretless bass playing. It’s hallmark, though, are the beats - so incredibly fast, and yet so precise and listenable that they never trip over themselves.
Tri Repetae++ (by Autechre) is by a group known for their cold, challenging, and highly mathematical pieces, yet this is their most listenable album.
Too many favouties to mention, but some off the top of my head:
Boards of Canada; mellow, laidback, soothing electronica with a lot of catchy bits. Music Has the Right to Children is their magnum opus.
Ellen Allien’s latest, Berlinette, catchy German IDM with nice beats.
Mouse on Mars, another German electronica brand that ranges from light, mellow and wistful to extremely intense and dark, the common ingredient being oddly danceable beats. Niun Niggung is my favourite album.
Apparat’s Duplex. Warm and glitchy.
Múm, Icelandic masters of sweet and melodic electro-rock.
M83’s * Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts*; a French electrorock outfit that merges the “shoegazing” rock sound of My Bloody Valentine with the clean-cut, airy aesthetics of electropop such as Air, the common component being a kind of hypnotic dreaminess.
The above-mentioned’s music is, with the exception of Múm, generally instrumental. While Múm features vocals, there are also long non-vocal periods.