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0 pointsrobohamburger9y ago0 comments

Couldn't agree more but I think bootcamps could probably steal some of the magic that CS has.

I spent years programming as an amateur/hobbyist and I thought I knew it all. When I started studying discrete maths and functional programming at the university level it opened my eyes to a lot of things. Suddenly computers weren't hardware they were just implementations of a theoretical idea where many more things were actually possible than I had ever thought of before.

Once you know even elementary discrete math such as sets and logic programming becomes more of an exercise in seeing if you can realize abstract ideas and models.

I do wish CS gave me a better more practical mindset around real world problem solving though. Maybe there are some things you can only learn in the industry but it took me awhile to adjust my attitude and really become a productive programmer.

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RegEx9y ago

> Once you know even elementary discrete math such as sets and logic programming becomes more of an exercise in seeing if you can realize abstract ideas and models.

I agree with this 100%. The proof exercises you have to complete in discrete math make for great programming exercises. They force you to ask yourself

1. What's the problem? 2. What do we know? 3. How do we get to the end? 4. What does it look like to be "done"?

These are great questions to ask yourself when programming.

robohamburgerOP9y ago

Yes, when you combine this thinking with thinking about the real world in a holistic manner you basically unlock programming super powers :)

Some what tangentially related, hammock driven development: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f84n5oFoZBc

The part about pushing on the problem statement is always useful, even if you don't have time to think about problems like he describes.

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