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jeff47

(26,549 posts)
9. You don't actually need much math.
Wed Jan 14, 2015, 01:44 PM
Jan 2015

Complex math only gets relevant when you get very far into the "science" part of computer science. At one time, almost all the work was down at that level. But that time passed long ago.

Today, a typical software developer doesn't need any math more complex than what they learned in junior high. Yes, there's some specialized areas where more advanced math is helpful (matrices are heavily used in high-end graphics, for example). But there's not a lot of people writing that software.

If you want to start learning to program computers, I recommend starting with Python. It's a scripting language so it's a lot simpler than languages like C++, yet allows you to make "real", useful programs.

In fact, a lot of software development is moving to these simpler languages because computers are getting so fast we don't need to squeeze every bit of performance out of the chips anymore. Current CPUs spend a large part of their time waiting for other parts of the computer, so using lower level languages just means the CPU waits more. Simpler languages mean its easier to write and maintain the program, even when you could use more complex languages.

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