"Language skills are a stronger predictor of programming ability than math knowledge" as I have been saying for years https://phys.org/news/2020-03-math-person-code.html
@nex3 THANK YOU
@nex3 Similarly, any programmer can write a complex application. What requires skill is writing a simple application, and having it still meet the requirements.
Also interesting, as someone learning french:
"Prat showed that patterns of neural activity while the brain is at rest can predict up to 60% of the variability in the speed with which someone can learn a second language (in that case, French)."
"If there's nothing different about UNIX people, how come so many were liberal-arts majors?"
"Suddenly the overrepresentation of polyglots, liberal-arts types, and voracious readers in the UNIX community didn't seem so mysterious […]"
"It's the love of words that makes UNIX stand out."
The Elements Of Style: UNIX As Literature, Thomas Scoville, 1998
http://fringe.davesource.com/Fringe/Computers/Unix/UNIX_Literary_Style.html
@nex3 Because the article mystifyingly doesn't even link the paper they're citing, here's a direct link: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-60661-8
@nex3 This paper does say that they tested "numeracy", which is very different from math knowledge.
@nex3@mastodon.social YEAH!!!
@nex3 while programming certainly isn’t nearly as mathematical as people claim, i don’t think you can extrapolate from “ability to write rock-paper-scissors in python after 4 hours” to “programming ability”
@nex3 oh, absolutely, i’m not saying the study is bad. just that the article oversells it, as usual
@nex3 This is really interesting, thanks!
@nex3 i didn't read the paper, did they control for language aptitudes impact on /understanding the instructional lessons/?
@nex3 I'm terrible at both
@veer66 @rarirurero I'll read this later! Thank you!
@veer66 indeed. It may not need much math when programming at work.
It just needs when programming on online contest. problems on it sometimes need math skill. 😅
@mayuutann The hardest part of AtCoder is probably comprehending the requirements. 😅
@veer66 true. 😅
@nex3 This makes a lot of intuitive sense. Programming is communication
@nex3 "Programming involves creating meaning by stringing symbols together in rule-based ways."
I bet if they studied mathematicians working on proofs they'd see the same language areas firing. Meanwhile the tests they ran to assess math ability likely involved adding things in your head or rotating 2d figures.