Cart
[Home] [By Thread] [By Date] [Recent Entries]
liam@w... (Liam Quin) writes: >On Tue, Jan 06, 2004 at 12:40:54PM -0500, Simon St.Laurent wrote: >> Some programmers definitely need to understand math very well. The >> vast majority, in my experience, do not. > >Part of this depends on what you mean by "math" I think... I think you're right. I don't think most programmers need a formal grasp of mathematics as taught in mathematics courses. >e.g. an understanding of logic is pretty important, and automata >theory is pretty useful, as is group theory and basic stuff like >number bases. Logic, certainly, though there are other ways to learn it. Number bases, for some applications, yes. For group theory I'd say its a matter of degree, and may not require much formal understanding. Automata theory? Depends on what you're writing. To be a master programmer who does good work requires all of those things, but about 80% of the programmers I've encountered are apprentices and journeymen. (I'd put myself at apprentice in this context.) >If you view mathematics as the discipline of manipulation of >symbols, then it's pretty close to computing. Mathematicians often say that. I still don't see much commonality in the practice of the two disciplines. In practice, I see more commonality with building trades.
|
