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Chiusano Joseph wrote:
>Thinking back (less than 20 years ago), I believe I had the equivalent
>of Calculus II in my senior year of high school. Why would a programmer
>and/or modeler need to know anything beyond that (or even up to that),
>if they were - say - a Java programmer working in an automotive domain?
To add a bit to this conversation, I would like to say that when I went
into programming in the first place, I did not have a high school math
equivalent knowledge(I was 12 when I started ok). So it is clear to me
that it is not necessary to have high math skills to be a programmer.
However, it is clear that many math skills are used in programming (even
if they don't actually use numbers). After my third failed attempt at
Calculus, I quit trying, but I beefed up even more on my programming
skills. In time, I took a Stats class that was using a lot of Calculus,
and I actually did very well.
In this case, good programming skills led to good math skills.
I do agree with some others, however, that logic is a very important
skill. I had this skill at age 12, and it is still one of my strongest
skills. I have also found that creativity has been a very useful skill.
My point is, there are often many different routes to the same end. One
does not need to have excellent math skills to be a programmer.
Chris Strolia-Davis
Database Specialist
Contractor - CDO Technologies Inc.
-----Original Message-----
From: Chiusano Joseph [mailto:chiusano_joseph@bah.com]
Sent: Tuesday, January 06, 2004 9:21 AM
To: rjm@zenucom.com
Cc: bob@wyman.us; xml-dev@lists.xml.org
Subject: Re: [xml-dev] Another mutated variant of the 'PowerPoint makes
youdumb' story
<Quote>
anyone working in modeling - which includes most programmers these days,
must understand more than high school maths.
</Quote>
Thinking back (less than 20 years ago), I believe I had the equivalent
of Calculus II in my senior year of high school. Why would a programmer
and/or modeler need to know anything beyond that (or even up to that),
if they were - say - a Java programmer working in an automotive domain?
Kind Regards,
Joe Chiusano
Booz | Allen | Hamilton
Strategy and Technology Consultants to the World
Rick Marshall wrote:
>
> sorry, but i can't help myself here
>
> On Tue, 2004-01-06 at 05:23, Bob Wyman wrote:
> > Michael Kay wrote:
> > > Actually, the hard part of programming is the logic,
> > Precisely! I get real tired of people assuming that
> > programmers have to be mathematicians... It just isn't true.
> programmers don't have to be mathematicians, and in fact many areas of
> programming don't need mathematics.
>
> but most programmers need more a passing knowledge of maths. anyone
> working in modeling - which includes most programmers these days, must
> understand more than high school maths.
>
> anyone analysing financial results must know more than high school
> maths.
>
> most of the papers referred to on this list use and require more than
> high school maths to understand.
>
> what i might ask is the point of arguing about the significance of
> complexity if we don't have clear definitions of these things - and
> that's what mathematics gives us.
>
> but it's also true that most people's idea of mathematics is not what a
> mathematician today would recognise (and i'm probably out of date as
> well).
>
> >
> > > although mathematicians tend to regard themselves as
> > > the only people who understand logic, I have come across
> > > linguists and lawyers who understand it just as well or better.
> > Actually, until recently logic was almost exclusively taught
> > and studied in philosophy departments and sometimes in law schools.
> > (although when I took "Legal Reasoning"
>
> that would be an oxymoron ;)
>
> > back in the early 70's it was
> > taught by the Philosophy Department.) It has only been in the last few
> > decades (since the introduction of computers) that logic has entered
> > into the curriculum of engineering schools and, I think, only since
> > the mid-1800's that it has been studied heavily by mathematicians.
>
> that's not strictly true - the distinction between logic and mathematics
> has only been recognised - and then logic as one aspect of mathematics -
> since the 19th century - and that probably only applies to western
> cultures.
>
> >
> > bob wyman
> >
>
> and could we really develop and use asn.1 without mathematics?
>
> >
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