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> Programming is geared towards having people who are experts in programming Programming is getting simpler all the time. Compare modern Python or Ruby to the

by sqeaky 10y ago

> Programming is geared towards having people who are experts in programming Programming is getting simpler all the time. Compare modern Python or Ruby to the earliest punch cards. We programmers are going out of way to make it as easy to understand as possible for as many as we can. There are programming languages suitable for children to use while making robots out of Legos. It is hard to see how variable names vs single character variables creates more friction than it reduces and might even allow domain experts outside of math without higher level math degrees in. I am curious what other practices are history vs objectively pragmatic requirements. There is much greater pressure on programmers to use time efficiently so we spent a lot of time on pragmatic thinking, and we are nowhere near done. By contrast you sound like many mathematicians and niche experts claiming that you have it solved and know the most efficient way to proceed without even considering an experiment.

vlasev 9y ago
A mathematician doing math is more akin to a processor executing instruction than a developer doing programming. When you have to reference a variable X in your head 1000 times (an underestimate) in the process of working on a problem, it makes immense sense to name it X rather than DescriptiveVariableName. In fact, in my own research for my Master's degree, I only made breakthroughs once I simplified the notation. And we're talking about a change like Q(x,y,z) -> Q, Q(x,0,y) -> Q_2^0, dQ(0,y,0)/dx -> Q_{1,3}^{1,0}. The power of concise notation can be quite a bit greater than that increase in opaqueness it creates. The way math is communicated suffers from this, for sure. However, you gotta think about what will happen once you read a paper that has more descriptive variable names. You sit down to prove a few results. You start manipulating concepts and symbols. You end up shortening the names until you basically come up with your own concise notation. The thing is that how math is read is very much linked to how math is done.

by sqeaky 10y ago

vlasev 9y ago

A mathematician doing math is more akin to a processor executing instruction than a developer doing programming. When you have to reference a variable X in your head 1000 times (an underestimate) in the process of working on a problem, it makes immense sense to name it X rather than DescriptiveVariableName. In fact, in my own research for my Master's degree, I only made breakthroughs once I simplified the notation. And we're talking about a change like Q(x,y,z) -> Q, Q(x,0,y) -> Q_2^0, dQ(0,y,0)/dx -> Q_{1,3}^{1,0}. The power of concise notation can be quite a bit greater than that increase in opaqueness it creates. The way math is communicated suffers from this, for sure. However, you gotta think about what will happen once you read a paper that has more descriptive variable names. You sit down to prove a few results. You start manipulating concepts and symbols. You end up shortening the names until you basically come up with your own concise notation. The thing is that how math is read is very much linked to how math is done.