Why not require a programming course for physicists and mathematicians? I think part of the reason is this: programming (badly) just isn't all that hard. Progra

Why not require a programming course for physicists and mathematicians? I think part of the reason is this: programming (badly) just isn't all that hard. Programming (badly) is a skill that most smart twelve-year-old kids can easily teach themselves, and most mathematicians and physicists who didn't program as kids are still quite capable of picking up (bad) programming skills as they need them. Programming well is a much harder skill to learn, but it's not something that you'd pick up from an introductory programming course anyway, and besides, good programming is overkill for most scientists anyway.