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Forget Math to Become a Great Computer Scientist?

Posted by Zonk on from the this-is-why-i-wasn't-a-good-programmer dept.

Coryoth writes "A new book is trying to claim that computer science is better off without maths. The author claims that early computing pioneers such as Von Neumann and Alan Turing imposed their pure mathematics background on the field, and that this has hobbled computer science ever since. He rejects the idea of algorithms as a good way to think about software. Can you really do computer science well without mathematics? And would you want to?"

13 of 942 comments (clear)

  1. Re:I am able by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Correction, make that minus one.

  2. Without computers, maths... by mastermemorex · · Score: 2, Funny

    I ok. Let me see if I am able to solve the Navier Stokes equations for unstady flows without the help of a computer. And the Schrodinger equation using a tridimensional net?

    Buahhh! ha, ha!

  3. Re:I am able by smittyoneeach · · Score: 4, Funny

    You were off by 19787949 - 1 = 19787948 in your calculation.
    However aren't they all integers, and therefore morally equivalent?

    --
    Get thee glass eyes, and, like a scurvy politician, seem to see things thou dost not.--King Lear
  4. Re:As if computer science wasn't stunted enough by Dogtanian · · Score: 4, Funny

    COMPUTING IS HARD. Are you Teen Talk Barbie by any chance?
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    "Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
  5. Re:Porn by supersat · · Score: 4, Funny

    Just as porn relies on math, math (or at least image compression research) relies on porn.

    It's a symbiotic relationship.

  6. Re:Damn straight! by eclectro · · Score: 4, Funny

    No maths means more girls. Hey, I'm all for it.

    --
    Take the cheese to sickbay, the doctor should see it as soon as possible - B'Elanna Torres, "Learning Curve"
  7. Re:Math not essential - Logic is! by jrsumm · · Score: 2, Funny

    Good call on the communication minor... that's where the girls are.

  8. Re:Some people shouldn't code production systems by Splab · · Score: 4, Funny

    I bet you couldn't identify a NP hard problem if it came up and ate all your CPU cycles.

  9. Re:Damn straight! by sanman2 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Bah -- "more", "less" -- these concepts are so mathematically antiquated.

  10. Re:He has no idea what math is by jbengt · · Score: 2, Funny

    1. Define the math of computer science as algorithms.
    2. Narrowly define algorithms so that they don't include all computer expressions.
    3. Proclaim that computer science doesn't need math.
    4. ????
    5. Profit!!

  11. Re:wahay! by theshowmecanuck · · Score: 2, Funny

    ya... and we wouldn't have had the mouse without apple
    what... the mouse was invented BEFORE apple???? gasp
    :-p

    --
    -- I ignore anonymous replies to my comments and postings.
  12. Re:wahay! by smilindog2000 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Ha! I guess that's why I like to see all the variable declarations at the top of a function, and some kind of comment above that. I've also seen recipes with goto statements. I guess you could call it a spaghetti recipe? :-P

    --
    Beer is proof that God loves us, and wants us to be happy.
  13. Re:Computer Science without math... by itwerx · · Score: 2, Funny

    Heh, not to reply to myself, but to reply to myself, this is the quote at the bottom of the page right now:

    "A word to the wise: a credentials dicksize war is usually a bad idea on the net." (David Parsons in c.o.l.development.system, about coding in C.)

    Rather apt I think!