Comments on: Is math important to programming?

By: Vincent Tan

Vincent Tan — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 00:54:13 +0000

Hello Jamie, usually when you deal with DirectX, you’re involved with manipulating lots of 3D information. That means *some* math is involved. I’m just glad I know a little bit of why the code looks and works that way…

By: Jamie

Jamie — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 05:42:50 +0000

As a hobby programmer with admittedly shocking math ability I can vouch it does make a huge difference, often complex math takes me a lot longer than it ought to and yet other things are sadly beyond my realm of understanding, particularly in DirectX. Jamies last blog post..Revenge of the focus rectangle & Black hole tabs - ListView tidbits cont.

By: Vincent Tan

Vincent Tan — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 14:26:10 +0000

“Math may not be necessary to programming, but it is certainly is helpful.”

That’s the same answer given by Jeff Atwood and Joel Spolsky! Well, Jeff mainly… Now that I’ve worked a bit as a professional programmer, I can safely say, that’s true.

By: Will Dwinnell

Will Dwinnell — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 13:55:23 +0000

I suppose that the answer to the question, "Is math important to programming?", depends on what you consider "math". I would have said that programming was a subset of (applied) math. If we restrict "math" to techniques dealing with quantities, then my answer would be "Math may not be necessary to programming, but it is certainly is helpful." I have encountered a number of programmers in during my career who understand only the small number of software tools which they have learned to use. Knowing little or nothing about computer science, discrete math, etc. can be limiting, and I have seen it hold up big-ticket projects. Since learning math takes time and effort, hiring a candidate who has such qualification is more expensive. Do all programmers need such skills? No, but doing without them entirely, in my opinion, only makes the work harder. Will Dwinnells last blog post..MATLAB Image Basics