The Mathematical Hacker

Abstraction: Essay arguing programmers should master applied mathematics for real-world impact

Key points:

• Contrasts "Lisp school" (abstraction-focused; Raymond, Graham, Yegge) vs "Fortran school" (math-as-tool; Dr. Adam Rosenberg) of programming; argues Fortran-school has produced greater economic value
• Recursive Fibonacci/factorial are poor pedagogy: analytic closed-form solutions (Binet's formula via sqrt(5); lgamma for factorials) run in O(1) and are more instructive mathematically
• Historical examples of math transforming industries: statistical QC in manufacturing, linear programming in logistics, Black-Scholes in finance, Moneyball in sports
• Programmers should study calculus, linear algebra, and statistics not to understand computing but to model phenomena in the world
• Big Data and consumer geo/image applications are expanding the practical scope for applied math in software (e.g., Instagram color-channel equations)
• Predicts the balance of the 21st century will favor programmers who can successfully apply mathematics to practical problems

Connections: Evan Miller · Applied Mathematics · Programming Philosophy · Statistics

Source: http://www.evanmiller.org/mathematical-hacker.html