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Mathematics will take up precisely as much space as it 'needs to' in computer science. The fact that you're arguing for some kind of effort in getting it more s

by 59nadir 13y ago

Mathematics will take up precisely as much space as it 'needs to' in computer science. The fact that you're arguing for some kind of effort in getting it more space says to me you're as misguided as the people who say it has no place. Just let it happen: If it's needed, it's needed. It's not a matter of principle. It's a matter of practicality.

coldtea 13y ago
>Just let it happen: If it's needed, it's needed. It's not a matter of principle. It's a matter of practicality. There's underlying premise behind what you suggest, which is that things turn out optimally by themselves with no need for any human effort and supervision in getting them a certain way. I don't thing this idea is true to history.
devhinton 13y ago
You may intend differently but this sounds incredibly passive. And is deleterious to change. Revolutions like the main stream popularization of the computer or the rapid boom of the iphone seem to 'just happen'. But this obscures the toil of the drivers of said changes. By encouraging us to let 'it just happen' you are encouraging the hacker community to be passive in determining its own outcome. However, it does seems misleading to serve teaching the recursive solution to fibonacci to students learning recursion as an example of bad practice or of demonstrative of Math's secondary role in computing. Fibonacci's are a very intuitive, and instructive, application of recursion (its efficiency is irrelevant here). What specific areas of modern computing underutilize mathematics in favor of abstraction despite any tenable reason?
barrkel 13y ago
The way it takes up space is by enterprising people bringing it in and finding success with what it adds, then other people scrambling to catch up. You're arguing to be left behind in the scramble, or worse, left behind period.
yummyfajitas 13y ago
If people don't know what math can do they don't know when they need it. Case in point: will a blue or green button increase conversions? Lots of people still don't apply the simple math that will resolve this issue, and instead resort to meetings, consensus building, user stories and dick swinging.

by 59nadir 13y ago

coldtea 13y ago

>Just let it happen: If it's needed, it's needed. It's not a matter of principle. It's a matter of practicality. There's underlying premise behind what you suggest, which is that things turn out optimally by themselves with no need for any human effort and supervision in getting them a certain way. I don't thing this idea is true to history.

devhinton 13y ago

You may intend differently but this sounds incredibly passive. And is deleterious to change. Revolutions like the main stream popularization of the computer or the rapid boom of the iphone seem to 'just happen'. But this obscures the toil of the drivers of said changes. By encouraging us to let 'it just happen' you are encouraging the hacker community to be passive in determining its own outcome. However, it does seems misleading to serve teaching the recursive solution to fibonacci to students learning recursion as an example of bad practice or of demonstrative of Math's secondary role in computing. Fibonacci's are a very intuitive, and instructive, application of recursion (its efficiency is irrelevant here). What specific areas of modern computing underutilize mathematics in favor of abstraction despite any tenable reason?

barrkel 13y ago

The way it takes up space is by enterprising people bringing it in and finding success with what it adds, then other people scrambling to catch up. You're arguing to be left behind in the scramble, or worse, left behind period.

yummyfajitas 13y ago

If people don't know what math can do they don't know when they need it. Case in point: will a blue or green button increase conversions? Lots of people still don't apply the simple math that will resolve this issue, and instead resort to meetings, consensus building, user stories and dick swinging.