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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: 2, Insightful) by khallow on Friday March 06 2020, @01:54PM (4 children)
You breath more often than you do either of those things, so breathing is the most important skill.
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Friday March 06 2020, @03:11PM (1 child)
Can't code without breathing!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 06 2020, @05:53PM
I know someone who tried. He sat so still at his computer that the lights (on motion sensors) would shut off in his office. Fwiw, he wrote bullet-proof code, including his own test code, wizard level.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 06 2020, @06:31PM (1 child)
Your heart pumps more than you breath, so heart pumping must be more important of a skill.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday March 07 2020, @02:37AM
I think the ultimate programming skill will be raising the local entropy. If you don't have that mastered, warming the couch (and the rest of the universe!) with your truly 1337 programming skill, then you're merely some blood pusher fake.