> calculating a derivative or setting up a fancy data structure of some kind or something, is interesting but how much of that do we actually do as programmers?

> calculating a derivative or setting up a fancy data structure of some kind or something, is interesting but how much of that do we actually do as programmers? A LOT, depending on the domain. There are many R&D and HPC labs throughout the US in which programmers work directly with specialists in the hard sciences. A significant percentage of their work is akin to "calculating a derivative".