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Not to dismiss the study - I agree that hypotheses require proofs - but, based on my personal experience coding *feels* much more like math, and almost not at a
by alentred 2y ago
Not to dismiss the study - I agree that hypotheses require proofs - but, based on my personal experience coding *feels* much more like math, and almost not at all a spoken language, except for the fact that we give identifiable "names" to things (keywords, variables, functions, etc.). Well, not unlike in math in fact.
I wonder if the authors (neuroscientists) discussed the premise with programmers and linguists to formulate the hypothesis. I mean, I would say that the question should have been: are the same regions of the brain activated when doing math/chemistry/physics/neuroscience(so meta!)/science and coding, instead of when talking/writing/reading and coding.
Maybe there are people who experience coding differently - please, let me know if so, but I would be so much surprised.
- bborud 2y agoIt would be interesting to look at programmers with very long (2-4) decades of experience solving programming tasks in different domains. Also, I'd be interested in seeing what happens when they write code for domains entirely new to them vs very familiar.
- aleph_minus_one 2y ago> based on my personal experience coding feels much more like math, and almost not at all a spoken language To me, both spoken/written natural languages and programming languages feel a little bit like math. :-) (no joke!) I thus often tend to analyze subtle aspects of words just like one does code audits for hidden backdoors (admittedly - native speakers of English agreed - this is easier and more yielding to do in German, my native language, than in English).