Linux Foundation Shares LinuxCon Highlights (linuxfoundation.org)

An anonymous Slashdot reader writes: The Linux Foundation held its "LinuxCon Europe" this week, "where developers, sys admins, architects and all types and levels of technical talent gather together under one roof for education, collaboration and problem-solving to further the Linux platform." They've now updated their web site with photos and slide presentations.

The 44 presentations included a talk about Linux kernel security subsystem by kernel developer James Morris and an interesting talk by GitHub's Carol Smith arguing that mandatory math requirements can create a "steep barrier to entry" for people trying to launch programming careers. Karsten Gerloff also described how Siemens is making "strategic" use of free software.

Comments

Re:What?!

[Dutch Gun]

Removing math from programing?
Is he/she serious? It's required to understand the functions and computer languages. Without it you can't properly make code!

I'd argue that any math beyond basic arithmetic and logic you require during programming is likely application-domain specific. Early programmers were mathematicians and physicists because they were using computers to solve hard math and physics programs. I've found that many programmers seem to have a really hard time separating the notion of programming itself from the applications which they are developing. There are no calculus problems I have to solve on a daily basis in order to write code. If I do use advanced math, it's for the benefit of the specific problem I'm trying to solve with my code - not a part of the coding process itself.

Computer science is more about the art and science of breaking large, complex problems into bite-sized tasks that can be solved piecemeal, which often requires an interesting mix of logical reasoning and creative puzzle-solving. I think understanding the classic patterns from the gang of four, fundamental data structures, and how computers work at both hardware and abstract levels are far more useful than classical mathematics to professional programmers. Many have suggested that formal logic courses would be more beneficial, which I could agree with, although I think most of that can be covered in early programming classes as well when dealing with boolean logic and bit-level math.

Personally, I almost never use Calculus-level math, but Linear Algebra and matrix math is crucial for 3D math (videogames). For others, perhaps business math and accounting would be more useful. For engineering specific software, you'd likely need more physics and advanced math. The level of math required tends to be entirely based on what type of programming you do.