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You might enjoy this letter by Edward Dijkstra on why Americans sometimes don't realize the mathematical basis of programming: https://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/

You might enjoy this letter by Edward Dijkstra on why Americans sometimes don't realize the mathematical basis of programming: https://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/transcriptions/EWD06xx/EWD611.html https://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/transcriptions/EWD06xx/E... Excerpt: "The first series of machines —that of the singletons— was mainly developed in the USA shortly after the World War II, while a ruined continental Europe had neither the technology, nor the money, to start building computers: the only thing we could do was thinking about them. Therefore it is not surprising that many US Departments of Computer Science are offsprings of Departments of Electrical Engineering, whereas those in Europe started (later) from Departments of Mathematics (of which they are often still a part). This different heritage still colours the departments, and could provide an acceptable explanation that in the USA Computing Science is viewed more operationally than in Europe."

pyuser583 6y ago
I’m pretty sure it precedes WWII. Compare the work of scientists like Alan Turing with the pre-war work of Claude Shannon/Vannevar Bush. Turing was a mathematician focused on theoretical problems. Shannon and Bush spent several years building analog computers at MIT. I think the difference was the way electronics and telecommunications established themselves as academic disciplines in America. America was training tons of electrical engineers, but surprisingly few mathematicians, as early as the mid 19th century. Look at schools like MIT - what the UK equivalent? Oxbridge is known for Classics, PPE, and Maths. There’s no “institutes of technology.”
- danielheath 6y ago
  > Turing was a mathematician focused on theoretical problems. The famous theoretical problems of fire-control systems for anti-aircraft weapons and wartime code-breaking.
amw-zero 6y ago
That’s such an interesting perspective. I’d expect nothing less of Djikstra!

pyuser583 6y ago

I’m pretty sure it precedes WWII. Compare the work of scientists like Alan Turing with the pre-war work of Claude Shannon/Vannevar Bush. Turing was a mathematician focused on theoretical problems. Shannon and Bush spent several years building analog computers at MIT. I think the difference was the way electronics and telecommunications established themselves as academic disciplines in America. America was training tons of electrical engineers, but surprisingly few mathematicians, as early as the mid 19th century. Look at schools like MIT - what the UK equivalent? Oxbridge is known for Classics, PPE, and Maths. There’s no “institutes of technology.”

danielheath 6y ago
> Turing was a mathematician focused on theoretical problems. The famous theoretical problems of fire-control systems for anti-aircraft weapons and wartime code-breaking.

amw-zero 6y ago

That’s such an interesting perspective. I’d expect nothing less of Djikstra!