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What Hillel Wayne thinks about mathematics

@hillel-wayne · 45 positions · 0 changes of mind

Writer and consultant on formal methods, testing and software correctness, author of Logic for Programmers and Practical TLA+. He ran the Crossover Project, interviewing seventeen people who worked as traditional engineers before becoming software developers, to settle by evidence whether software engineering is engineering.

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3 dated positions, 2021 to 2026, in their own words. Our reading of what Hillel Wayne has said — not written or endorsed by them.

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  1. Our readingMost mathematics will never be useful to a developer; what pays is knowing what mathematics exists so you can find the part that is.

    Their wordsBut I think it is more useful for most developers to have an exposure to like what math has in the various fields versus just going all in every single field when they see them, right? You've got to know what's available to know what's most useful for you. And most math will not be useful for you.

    ↗Formal methods with Hillel Wayneyoutube.com 13th of 24 in this recording

    Interesting

  3. Our readingProgrammers fail to recognise how much mathematics their job uses because the mathematics it needs is discrete and school teaches the continuous kind.

    Their wordsAnd I wonder sometimes if that is the reason people don't recognize the use of math in software engineering is because the math they do need is not the math they've been exposed to.

    ↗Formal methods with Hillel Wayneyoutube.com 14th of 24 in this recording

    Interesting
  4. 6 years earlier

  5. Our readingProgramming is mathematical work: it uses discrete mathematics rather than the continuous mathematics people picture when they say maths.

    Their wordsJust because we use a different branch of math doesn't mean we're not doing engineering.

    ↗Are We Really Engineers?hillelwayne.com 2nd of 6 in this piece

    Interesting