"Formalism" is a fancy word for saying that a system has to have an agreed upon shape - hence form. Programming languages have structure - you can't just type r

"Formalism" is a fancy word for saying that a system has to have an agreed upon shape - hence form. Programming languages have structure - you can't just type random text, there is a specific syntax, with specific semantic rules based on what you type. So all I'm saying is that you are working in a formal system, and you are creating formal logic. Every day. That has nothing to do with correctness. In logic, there is a difference between validity and soundness. A valid argument is one that is in a proper form. You can make valid arguments that are completely untrue. A sound argument is one that is valid and also happens to be true. It's trivial to create a valid program - it either compiles or is executable by the interpreter. But that has nothing to do with soundness. It's quite ironic. The unwillingness to understand something, such as math and logic in this case, leads to criticizing it. You can't evaluate what you don't understand.