> Not everything that uses math is mathematics. Of course not. And I never intended to say so. I originally said that "programming is applied math" (I insist

> Not everything that uses math is mathematics. Of course not. And I never intended to say so. I originally said that "programming is applied math" (I insist on "applied"). Because if you ignore the math behind programming, you're running into trouble. Same goes for bridge building, by the way: you can't ignore math. It's like Dracula: you may not see it often, but it is ever present, and influences everything. (I'm not talking about the laws of physics here, but about a bunch of people doing math, then using the results to make far reaching decisions.) Saying that programming is a branch of mathematics is a stronger claim, but not such an outlandish one either. After all, it is all about the manipulation of a formal system. But I wouldn't go that far. Rather, I'd say computer science is math (not applied, just math).