The author isn't right. He's right in some aspects (I'd say in 5% on what he conjectures), but for the most part, programmers and programming will be in quite a

The author isn't right. He's right in some aspects (I'd say in 5% on what he conjectures), but for the most part, programmers and programming will be in quite a high demand for quite a foreseeable time in the future. Yes, C / C++ programming might become less important (see: memory wall) and I'd say highly parallel computation will take precedence, but this won't replace computer science nor programming...it'll just create the need to programmers to transition from one skill set into another. Also, as a note: the field of computer science is a branch of mathematics. Whenever you deal with data structures or algorithms, you're dealing with how to procedurally design information structures and procedures to solve problems and model the real world. Mathematics? Well, depending on what branch you're into, it's using symbols and information ...to, well, do the same thing! Out of all of the professions, it seems rather silly to me to think that our own profession is in danger of being replaced. I would think that it's the LEAST likely one, since programmers, to me at least, represent workers who are paid to communicate and find ways to solve problems in the real world using a tool which will continue to improve and enable our species to excel and automate jobs filled with repetitive drudgery. Out of all of the professions, I’m not sure why the author would think that ours is likely to go out of demand soon. I would conjecture that us playing a prominent role in automating other jobs ensures that we stay in demand for quite a long time! As far as the most useful mathematical branches are concerned – if you’re interested, the branches I find have the highest ability to help in solving real world problems are: calculus, linear algebra, probability and statistics, computer science (as already mentioned), convex and computational optimization, quantum mechanics, complex analysis, ordinary and partial differential equations, data mining and analysis, information theory … well, I could keep going, but I think you’d greatly benefit from checking out a great book which gives a pretty good overview on the key areas in applied mathematics: The Princeton Companion to Applied Mathematics. The above are just my own guesses, and it’s highly dependent on which problem you’re looking to solve.