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A comment on What makes programming so hard? Can non-programmers invent algorithms?.

Re:What makes programming so hard? Can non-programmers inven... by cstejerean on Thursday October 18, 2007 @12:45PM (#69768)
Personally I think there might be something genetic. The same people that get computer science are good at a lot of other things that folks that don't understand programming don't seem to be great at. Look at Calculus or Physics. 20% of the students just get it, most of the class needs to memorize formulas and 20% of the people just don't get it at all.
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Re:What makes programming so hard? Can non-programmers inven... by german on Thursday October 18, 2007 @01:01PM (#69788)
I think it's not about Calculus or Physics, it's about Logic.
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Re:What makes programming so hard? Can non-programmers inven... by karzeem on Thursday October 18, 2007 @01:45PM (#69805)
Exactly. Algorithms are simply ways of approaching and solving a problem, and the ability to devise clever ones is portable between disciplines. At my college, several professors in the CS department hadn't programmed anything since the '70s.

The balkanization of science and liberarl arts is probably the worst thing about university education today. The unwillingness of either to import valuable concepts from the other ends up hurting both.

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