Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

Thinking about this a bit more.. I think I can refute your statement that "coding is math" and not "coding uses math".

I'm sorry the conversation got so caught up on pedantics.

Previously I would have quite readily agreed that at least "coding is a subset of math" - now I'd only agree in the sense that coding is an applied math, just like Physics is applied Math.

So, it does seem to be clearly a 'uses' relationship, and I'll support the assertion. To explain, coding is the act of creating a series of boolean expression (governed by boolean algebra) to create a desired output from a given input. To really explain, code is translated to assembly, which is then translated to binary, which then directly maps to how electrical signals flow out of CPU registers into a series of logical circuits. Assuming no faulty circuits, that flow is completely governed by boolean algebra. We therefore use boolean algebra to create our programs, we define a series of boolean operations to achieve a certain goal. We are _using_ boolean algebra to arrange a series of operations that maps a given set of inputs to a desired output. In the colloquial sense, coding is applied math, it is not pure math though. We use boolean algebra to create our programs, the programs are not boolean algebra themselves, but an application of boolean algebra.

Now, tying it all back to the article and implications. The data collected stated that the language parts of the brain are more responsible for whether we are able to learn programming. That seems to imply that the math part of programming is so far abstracted, that the parts of the brain which are used for math are no longer the most salient.

I wonder how the experiments and results in the article would have gone had the topic been electrical circuits and electrical engineering, which is far closer to the underlying math than coding.



Consider applying for YC's Winter 2026 batch! Applications are open till Nov 10

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: