Math and physics are a tangled mess so it's not surprising that mathematicians and physicists write code which looks like a tangled mess. Mathematicians and phy

Math and physics are a tangled mess so it's not surprising that mathematicians and physicists write code which looks like a tangled mess. Mathematicians and physicists are trained to handle ambiguous concepts and they can work with weird abstractions which are far detached from reality. Unlike programming languages, the language of math is full of gaps - This requires the reader to make assumptions using past knowledge and conventions. Computers, on the other hand cannot make assumptions so the code must be extremely precise and unambiguous. Writing good code requires a different mindset; firstly, it requires acknowledging that communication is extremely ambiguous and that it takes a great deal of effort to communicate clearly and to choose the right abstractions. A lot of the best coders I've met struggle with math and a lot of the best mathematicians I've met struggle with writing good code.