
Programming is not math, huh? (2014) - andars
http://j2kun.svbtle.com/programming-is-not-math-huh
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mannykannot
Jeremy Kun makes some very valid counter-arguments to Sarah Mei's claims, but
I was intrigued by one incongruity: Mei claimed (without any supporting
arguments) that learning to program was like learning a _new_ language, while
in his rebuttal, Kun compares learning both programming and mathematics to
learning language (in general). I wonder if there there are not significant
differences between learning language (i.e. your first language) and learning
a subsequent language.

FWIW, I don't think learning to program is like learning a new language, and I
don't think learning to program is like learning a new programming language
either. I do think that if you have a good command of rational thinking and
the precise and accurate communication of ideas, learning to program is easily
within your grasp.

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markbnj
Despite twenty years of software engineering I am nowhere near mathematician
enough to engage with the author on this topic, however this ...

>> In programming you have a compiler/interpreter that just dictates how an
ambiguity resolves.

... strikes me as wrong. It's like saying that mathematical symbolism dictates
the resolution of ambiguities because it states what '+' means. Syntax in
programming languages is like operators in mathematics. They are simple, well-
defined concepts. The ambiguities arise in the problem domain being described,
not in the symbols used for the description, something the author goes on to
acknowledge explicitly with regard to math.

