4 ms·
That's an optimistic idea, and I don't want to discourage optimism. But a common trait shared by both engineering and mathematics is the notion of constraints.
by gmfawcett 8y ago
That's an optimistic idea, and I don't want to discourage optimism. But a common trait shared by both engineering and mathematics is the notion of constraints. The limits of what we can produce in such an idealized math/engineering framework are likely not to be our imaginative limits, but the inherent and necessary limits of the objects and abstractions that math/engg rely upon. You might discover that axioms, rules, boundary conditions, and formal abstractions can't produce the liberating blank-canvas that an imaginative hacker/artist would dream of -- at least not without throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
- tw1010 8y agoFrom one perspective, coding is just dry formal automata theory. But that's not how most coders think about it. We've developed more playful ways to think and learn about it. And the more experience one has with coding, the more one can ignore the details and just think with feelings and intuition. The same effect occurs after a mountain of experience with pure mathematics. After a while, it starts to change the way you think. The brain internalizes it, and makes it accessible on a much more natural plane than how you think about maths when you're starting out, when everything is detail and hard work. It's these two worlds I want integrated. I want the abstractions coders think about on a daily basis to be enriched by a rejuvenating syringe of math juice.