something like PGM [1] (this is not a lightweight class) helps to understand the concepts. But it still seems like more of a niche domain right now than a gene

something like PGM [1] (this is not a lightweight class) helps to understand the concepts. But it still seems like more of a niche domain right now than a general programming technique. When one can apply it though, it really shines. I understand the current implementation of matching for xbox live is a big mess of imperative code - this is one area where knowledge of math can actually simplify the programming [2] "Online gaming systems such as Microsoft’s Xbox Live rate relative skills of players playing online games so as to match players with comparable skills for game playing. The problem is to come up with an estimate of the skill of each player based on the outcome of the games each player has played so far. A Bayesian model for this has been proposed..." [3] [1] https://www.coursera.org/course/pgm https://www.coursera.org/course/pgm [2] http://research.microsoft.com/pubs/208585/fose-icse2014.pdf http://research.microsoft.com/pubs/208585/fose-icse2014.pdf [3] http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/cambridge/projects/infernet/ http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/cambridge/projects/in...