/sci/ - Science & Math » Thread #12409133

107KiB, 605x448, boss_ask_how_I_am_feeling.png

View Same Google iqdb SauceNAO

Do you need to be good at math to be a Software Developer?

Anonymous Tue 01 Dec 22:41:27 2020 No.12409133 View Reply Original Report

Quoted By: >>12409158 >>12410815 >>12410911 >>12410957 >>12410972

A lot of people I ask IRL say no, but that doesn't make any logical sense to me.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 01 Dec 2020 22:46:22 No.12409155 Report

Quoted By: >>12409208

math is important to study the temporal and spatial complexity of algorithms. for numerical calculations, it is important for understanding stability and convergence. literal honest to god computer science is also steeped in math because it tries to analyze models of computation and what is possible within those models.

otherwise, software devs don't really need to know a lot of math. a good dev writes code that is terse, expressive, and flexible, none of which is informed by math to any significant degree

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 01 Dec 2020 22:47:56 No.12409158 Report

Quoted By: >>12409208

>>12409133
To be a good software developer, math helps.
To be a software developer that can solve complex or difficult problems efficienctly, yes.

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 01 Dec 2020 23:01:00 No.12409208 Report

Quoted By: >>12409240

>>12409155
>>12409158
determining time complexity is important, but it is not generally mathematically difficult AT ALL. And it's something you can just google often

Anonymous

Anonymous Tue 01 Dec 2020 23:07:44 No.12409240 Report

Quoted By:

>>12409208
>time complexity is important, but it is not generally mathematically difficult AT ALL
way to betray your ignorance, undergrad

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 02 Dec 2020 08:53:26 No.12410815 Report

Quoted By: >>12410823

>>12409133
Hell fucking NO.
Calc1,2,3 diff EQ, linear algrebra. Every god-damn class a complete fucking waste as I sit here in a 20 year career as an embedded software engineer jumping between 6 different jobs. I haven't used ANY of those math classes. Not even ONCE.

Now sure, there was an equation for interpolation. But this shit isn't calculus. There are curves and polynomials I get to implement. But that's still just algebra.

For real com sci shit, where they wear a labcoat and push the boundaries of what software can do? Yes, you need serious math chops. But the vast bulk of programmers and engineers? Naw.

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 02 Dec 2020 08:56:19 No.12410823 Report

Quoted By: >>12410868

>>12410815
>20 years of code monkeying
Holy shit, I hope you're happy because I sure as hell would not be

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 02 Dec 2020 09:18:38 No.12410868 Report

Quoted By: >>12410894

>>12410823
Uh, yeah? easly living, big pile of money, I get to make life-critical software and launch shit into space. Prestige, wealth, and luxury. .... yeah this is pretty good. The work isn't bad either.

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 02 Dec 2020 09:31:58 No.12410889 Report

Quoted By:

Yes, but not a lot of it. Systematic and abstract thinking is more important. Math teaches systematic and abstract thinking so people bad at it are usually bad at programming.
Strong understanding of pre-calculus, logic, graph theory, boolean algebra and set theory is the most important. I wish someone had told me that. Calculus 1, statistics and some linear algebra is not as detrimental for basic stuff but important to go through non the less. If you want more analysis would be the next step.
But it's not like you will have to battle with calculus 3 or algebraic geometry or something as a software developer.
Programming is building a complex and connected network using data structures, algorithms and fairly simple discrete math basically (for the most part as there's obviously some very complex stuff out there for simulations, aerospace, developing new algorithms, etc).

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 02 Dec 2020 09:32:53 No.12410894 Report

Quoted By: >>12410917

>>12410868
damn the cope... 20 years of code monkeying...

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 02 Dec 2020 09:38:40 No.12410911 Report

Quoted By:

>>12409133
no.

As long as you can add and multiply, you're good.

Just like you don't need to be a mathematician to be an inventor (Thomas Edison didn't know shit about math). Programming is kind of like playing with legos. You make things out of building blocks.

The important thing is, most of the time, to write programs that are easy to understand by other people and to enjoy doing it. That's it.

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 02 Dec 2020 09:40:55 No.12410917 Report

Quoted By: >>12410931

>>12410894
Im not that guy, but it sounds like you're the one doing the coping here. Let me guess, studying maths degree or doing a phd or some other useless shit like that while others have fun and make money?

Anonymous

View Same Google iqdb SauceNAO giphy-preview.gif, 47KiB, 237x237

Anonymous Wed 02 Dec 2020 09:51:50 No.12410931 Report

Quoted By:

>>12410917
damn... 20 year codemonkeyer pretending to be another anon...

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 02 Dec 2020 10:02:23 No.12410957 Report

Quoted By:

>>12409133

No. If you are programming under constraints then you just need to know whether one design is faster than another, or takes more space than another. After a certain point amount of experience it's placing lego pieces together, albeit at different levels.

That's software development, not computer science though.

Anonymous

Anonymous Wed 02 Dec 2020 10:10:35 No.12410972 Report

Quoted By:

>>12409133
Math is pretty simple after you take real analysis. You'll be so entrenched in intuition that it will be extremely basic to you. It sucks that it takes time but it pays off significantly

Capcode	All Only User Posts Only Moderator Posts Only Admin Posts Only Developer Posts
Show Posts	All Only With Images Only Without Images
Deleted Posts	All Only Deleted Posts Only Non-Deleted Posts
Ghost Posts	All Only Ghost Posts Only Non-Ghost Posts
Post Type	All Only Sticky Threads Only Opening Posts Only Reply Posts
Results	All Grouped By Threads
Order	Latest Posts First Oldest Posts First

Your latest searches