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from the math-is-a-language-with-its-own-grammar-and-vocabulary dept.
I-Programmer runs a story [0] which says it might not be math chops, but language skills that make a good programmer.
This makes sense, at least to me. I'm a fair coder, and can certainly count, but would not consider my math skills to be high level. As a teenager, C.L. Dogson's Symbolic Logic/Game of Logic [1] was a great read, but wading through formulas and proofs has always made me feel like a 4 year old.
To each his own. For my main "Human" language - English - I'm a pretty good communicator, and that also reflects in the dozen or so coding "dialects" I've kept up with over the years. In basic training I was surprised to test very high at language skills when I absolutely detested spanish in high school (the teacher had something to do with it) and even after living with a German gal for quite some time now have only the rudiments of that language.
This story resonated because I agree with it, coming around to thinking a good thirty years ago that programming is more of a language than a math skill - just not specifically one for a "human" language.
I treat coding like writing a story, itself a variation of the scientific method: 1) first draft, 2 revise, 3 go to 2 until the screen's output matches what's in my head as closely as possible.
So, at least in my case, language skills being much better than math skills result in a fair ability to program.
The folks at Stack Overflow [2] had a long thread on a similar subject some time back. Soylentils, what do you think?
[0] https://www.i-programmer.info/news/99/13517.html
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Game_of_Logic
[2] https://stackoverflow.com/questions/157354/is-mathematics-necessary-for-programming
(Score: 4, Insightful) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday March 06 2020, @11:47AM (3 children)
Agreed but you missed an important bit. It's also the ability to understand the big problems at all.
I'd tell parents that if they want to raise a programmer, or a logical thinker at all, teach them to build things. Blocks, Legos, Erector sets, Transformers, Basic electronics, plumbing, carpentry, or pretty much any system that success and the accompanying reward requires both understanding the whole and being able to figure out the steps necessary to get there. The more things that you teach them like those, the harder the core concepts will stick in their brain. Language and math are both somewhat of a means to that end but nothing like actually being able to see the physical results of your work.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 06 2020, @12:32PM (2 children)
it has to "click". i remember that. being around legos and stuff does not guarantee a "click" but i assume chances are higher that it will.
also, it will always "click". if it doesn't you remain retarded. we all start off this way.
the "trick" is to have it "click" early. just a few weeks earlier will get you to score higher on the IQ test or be considered intelligence.
that's my opinion anyways. maybe if you try hard enough you can also recall the moment when it "clicked" in your childhood.
also, note to parents: intelligence is not a guarantee for happyness. one should rather aim to bring up a happy person ...
(Score: 3, Insightful) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday March 06 2020, @02:26PM (1 child)
That ain't no shit. Not only do you have most of the same obstacles in life that stupid people have but you're also surrounded by idiots and you can see a lot of the pointlessness and stupidity that you have no chance in hell of fixing.
Yup, teach them to fish. And don't buy in to thinking fishing is for white rednecks. The world record black crappie was caught by a black guy in his 20s here in TN a year or three ago and most of my fishing buddies here are black guys.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by acid andy on Friday March 06 2020, @03:12PM
+A million for the first bit. For the second bit, I'd rather just feed the fish.
If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?