in reply to Re^3: Not Everyone Likes Perl, I Guess
in thread Not Everyone Likes Perl, I Guess

Lol! Quite the eloquent writer for a mathematician (not to insinuate that mathematicians can't be writers ;) ), water. I like to think of Perl as being quite different from math. Although a foundation in mathematics such as trig or calc (more algebra than anything, I would think) can help you write better equations and keep your mind sharper, programming (in general) is based upon logic. Math, itself, is logic, but can supersede basic logic and become a language all its own. I, honestly don't mind math, just as long as a problem doesn't end up causing blood to shoot out of my nose! I can't say my favorite weekend activity involves working a quadratic equation and imaginary numbers, but it does help you keep your mind sharp and on-track.

Is it just me, or does anyone else think that code is more beautiful than the result?!!

Sorry for the philosophical rant. Thank you all for taking an interest in my little post, here.

Regards,
$curtis="Bye!";

My Site in Progress

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Re^5: Not Everyone Likes Perl, I Guess
by apotheon (Deacon) on Oct 14, 2004 at 15:08 UTC
    False dichotomy. Code and "result" are one.

    "There is no mirror."

    - apotheon

    CopyWrite Chad Perrin
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Re^5: Not Everyone Likes Perl, I Guess
by SpanishInquisition (Pilgrim) on Oct 14, 2004 at 19:13 UTC

    y = f(x,h,i) where f=g(h(x),i(x)) ... sound like programming? Or math?

    Functional Programming IS basically math, just with exceedingly arbitrary functions doing exceedingly arbitrary tasks. The deeper you go, the theories included all dwell on running time, effiency, statistics, probability ... but usually one doesn't have to go that deep. Graph theory is math. Discrete math is math. Regular expressions ARE Finite Automata, and that's definitely math -- with pretty circles and arrows. Programs are Turing Machines. That's totally math. NP-completeness. Definitely math.

    Math is the genesis of science and the glue which the rules of our universe are built upon... Words we could do without, we could have never invented them. But math would exist without our invention of it...

    Remember there was computer science before computers!

    Computer Science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes. E. W. Dijkstra
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[d/l]
      I don't quite see it that way.

      Programming is a symbolic framework for logic. Mathematics is a symbolic framework for logic. Programming is not necessarily mathematics. Mathematics is not necessarily programming.

      In much the same way that English and Japanese are both symbolic frameworks for communication, and both English and Japanese can be said to be communication, but neither is the other, so too are programming and mathematics both symbolic frameworks for logic, and both can be said to be logic, while neither is the other.

      - apotheon

      CopyWrite Chad Perrin
[reply]
        Same difference.
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