GigsVT's Journal: 20 replies

20 flaming replies for daring to suggest that most of the math they often teach with CS is useless to most programmers later in life.

There's a ton of cognitive dissonance there. These people worked hard (or are working hard) slogging through these useless math courses, therefore they must be valuable.

That sort of cognitive dissonance seems to be almost instinctual, part of our natural preference to defend our "group". When I attack the excessive and useless math taught with CS, I am also attacking their identity, striking deep.

It's hard to have a rational conversation about something when people are that invested in it.

what would be more useful..

[mekkab]

is a computational mathematics course. (or is that a normal part of CS 101?)

Re:

[GigsVT]

That is useful. Taking all the math an engineer takes is not.

Saw that, and agree with you...

[(H)elix1]

I ended up a class short of a math minor, due entirely to dating a theoretical chemist in university. Early on, I created bioinformatics software, which was math heavy. No scratch that - it was statistics heavy. It has been years since I've done any 'real' math when coding. The math classes might help a wee bit on problem solving... but for the most part it is overrated as far as what impact it has later on. Heck - most people are lucky to take more than a couple years of math. I've gone back for univ

Stats and random processes!

[mekkab]

I think Stats and Random processes would be great for a Comp Sci degree (I'm flexible on wether Bachelor vs. Masters... but definitely for Masters!). Being able to model network requests via a poisson distribution? Brilliant!

Agreement

[Valthan]

I totally agree with you GigsVT. I am currently in my 2nd year of a BSc Computer Science Honours and let me tell you, most of the math they make us take is utterly retarded. Calculus I , II and III (all utterly useless unless you really, really, really want to get into AI, or so I have been told), I have also been told by older students that for the graphics courses the "Easy Calc" is all that is needed... why must we take 3 of the hardest courses in the entire University. We also have to take the Math Majo

Re:

[Com2Kid]

If you are finding calculus to be difficult, then it is a Good Thing(tm) that you are taking it.

Calculus is not that difficult, and by stretching your grey matter into obscene shapes, hopefully you will become an overall more flexible thinker.

And of course, calculus is indispensable for learning Physics, and once you know physics, you begin to have a grasp on how the world itself works.

Re:

[Com2Kid]

You could say the same thing about making a CS major take advanced genetics, or advanced chemistry.

Both of which benefit from/use Calculus! Calculus is the mathematics behind almost all modern science.

(Roommate my junior year was a Chem major and had m4d calculus skillz)

yeah

[stoolpigeon]

i knew you were going to get beat up on that one. the mantra about a degree being broad and not simply 'job training' is strong on the dot. i've never gone to a university, just a couple 'institutes' so i don't know about that - i've mostly just had job training, though both institutions were accredited.

NO! You ignoramus!

[Com2Kid]

Calculus is VERY useful.

Calculus is one of THE most fundamental mathematical discoveries, and the key to our modern understanding of reality itself!

Calculus is the difference between some idiot who went to a 2 year trade school (l00k I know C# and Java!!!) and somebody who is capable of learning almost any field of science.

Calculus contains fundamental philosophical AND mathematical underpinnings.

Do I use it? Depends on what I want to do.

But hell, why Computer Scientists learn history either?

Why bother eve

Undergraduate Courses

[turgid]

Is not part of the purpose of an undergraduate education to prepare one for post-graduate research?

Maybe it's a cultural thing, but many people don't seem to see the difference between a technical college and a university.

Re:

[GigsVT]

As soon as employers stop requiring university degrees like this, I'll agree with you.

I know a lot of them don't, but enough of them do that it matters.

When I went to the sales pitch (open house or whatever they call it) before attending college, all they talked about was how much money CS graduates were making entry-level at the time. This wasn't some marketing department, this was the acedemic dean giving the speechs.