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So coding is the new literacy but we can afford to skimp on the math?
by booleandilemma 9y ago
So coding is the new literacy but we can afford to skimp on the math?
- tptacek 9y agoYes? Virtually none if the coding that professionals do requires any formal intuition for algebra.
- AstralStorm 9y agoOnce you do actual programming instead of guess work, it does. Try evaluating performance of anything without algebra. Or without statistics.
- kasey_junk 9y agoWhat specifically are you thinking of wrt performance evaluation and Algebra? I do a lot of that and the statistics requirements are obvious. I'm having less success identifying the algebra.
- pcwalton 9y agoI had to learn a lot of linear algebra on the job that I kind of wish I had learned more of in school. Granted, I ended up doing graphics, which is pretty specialized. But I think it's safe to say that the number of programmers who have to know algebra and beyond is more than "virtually none".
- tptacek 9y agoSure, but that's like someone who programs genetic assays saying you have to learn a lot of molecular biology to program. In the last 5 years I've been working, I've done a bunch of linear algebra for cryptanalysis. But in the 18 years preceding that, zilch.
- gsylvie 9y agoI think there's more algebra in frontend development. For example: CSS or SVG gradients, JavaScript animations and fades, the occasional clever data visualization. Heck, even the CSS box model? Backend or frontend, if you use any quantitative metrics in your year-end performance evals, then some algebra is going to be helpful! And you never know what will come up. I was once contracted by a regional government to write some code to correct hourly sensor readings (water levels in wells) based on a monthly manual human reading (ground truth). When it was done my boss remarked, "oh, this is just a linear transformation."
- JamesBarney 9y agoBut remember, has a non-zero usefulness is a very very different benchmark from a good use of your time to study and learn.