Re:Math For Programmers
by pg on Sunday December 09, 2007 @05:14PM
(#87515)
Good programming is all about good design, and the way you learn good design is from spending a lot of time thinking about really hard math.
An interesting idea, but empirically false. Design sense is a necessary condition for being a good hacker, but not a sufficient one. As for the second half, I agree one can learn about design from studying math, but most of the people I know with a great sense of design didn't acquire it that way.
If you said "A sense of design is a big component of being a good programmer, and you can learn a lot about design by studying math," you'd be right.
An interesting idea, but empirically false. Design sense is a necessary condition for being a good hacker, but not a sufficient one. As for the second half, I agree one can learn about design from studying math, but most of the people I know with a great sense of design didn't acquire it that way.
If you said "A sense of design is a big component of being a good programmer, and you can learn a lot about design by studying math," you'd be right.