[ebuck]

Perhaps the boring explanation is, if you don't start writing in the morning, you're already doing something else when you think you should start writing.

I program equally well early in the morning or late at night, basically the two times in the day when my daily tasks are mostly settled. If I advertise early morning programming, it doesn't feed into the mantra of "hard working" in corporate USA as well as the "burning the midnight oil" tropes.

So, I come into the office two hours early and get my programming done before the meetings start and get little to no recognition, or I stay three hours late doing the same and get lots of recognition. Savvy people will soon learn to feed the trope of working hard, working late, especially when it can excuse a late entry to work (but arriving early never permits a late exit).

I'd say the late night hacker is more a stereotype driven by culture.