[metalspot]

in my own experience i feel like my subconscious mind does most of the problem solving and my conscious mind is mostly used for identifying the problem, selecting the input data, and then observing the result. if you flip your perspective you might also consider that while you are using your brain to program a computer you are also using the computer as a tool to program your brain. what makes computers so unique is that they give you the ability to control the input to the audio/visual centers of your brain so that you are able to manipulate the stream of information that is passing through your (very limited) short term memory. typing plays an interesting role here as well because there is subconscious muscle memory and so once you practice enough you write code the same way a musician plays a piano which is subconscious reaction between visual symbols and muscle memory. whats different with computers is that instead of reading from a printed music sheet you are able to control the sequence of visual symbols that trigger the subconscious muscle memory reactions that result in typing.

if the brain is actually a biological neural network then this is not surprising. input takes time to propagate through the layers of the network and sleep is a necessary part of how that biological process works so the information needed to solve a problem might take a nights sleep to propagate to the depth where it can be solved or it might need a variety of other inputs that take time to acquire before enough information is ingested to reach a solution.