[oggyhead]

I don't understand this! Math is a super set of algorithmic wizardry and if you include heuristics in algorithmic wizardry (why would you not?),isn't organizational skills a part of the Algorithmic Wizardry? So he's saying that knowing all skills in the subset is better than knowing all the skills in the set? And that's just the headline

[watwut]

> isn't organizational skills a part of the Algorithmic Wizardry

No, because organizational skill involves also following (not required for algorithmic wizardry):

* Solving same situation consistently the same way.

* Differentiating between important for maintenance and unimportant.

* Ability to plan - think in advance about how much time people need to answer your questions and giving them time. Realize that other people are not available at your whim.

* Negotiation, understanding what other people mean and being able to express what you mean the way others understand.

* Being able to do also boring parts, not just fun stuff. Keeping up work even if nobody controls you.

* Being able to know what is "good enough". Organize work the way that most important parts are done first, don't just follow what is fun.

* Writing the code the way other people not just understand it. So that tests are possible and actually write tests.

There are many people, algorithmic wizards or not, who cant do the above. That is why agile have standups and jira tasks with max 0.5 day size by the way, because way too many people never finish tasks they are assigned to without being checked on every day.

[oggyhead]

Organization is a mathematical and algorithmic problem regardless of the context. And if you think people go to school so that they mug up algorithms, you're missing the point of school. You go to school to learn how to problem-solve, how to model problems mathematically and incidentally become aware of a repo of solved problems which may help you in your own problem solving adventures.

[oggyhead]

This is what I read in this article. The author has a problem with people thinking that rote-learnt algorithms is the best thing ever, and proceeds to say nope a stash of the most subjective heuristics to produce 'good code' is wayyyy better. All in all the way I see it, the author is proposing to supplant a shittty misconception with a bs idea that is nice short term solution but a complete disaster in the long term which has inculcated into this idea that programming is an Art and not a discipline.

[rmdashrfroot]

I agree with this argument, please continue explaining.

[snarfy]

When it's both, they call it a craft. Good craftsmanship is the art. Knowledge of the trade is the discipline.

[fantispug]

Math is a clean room where you don't need to worry about the concrete representation. Often the details of the representation and how they connect are more to do with human psychology (keeping things understandable) than with algorithmic heuristics.

[oggyhead]

I sincerely think that the minute you stop thinking that Math cannot be applied to a problem solving situation or Math is too fancy/theoretical, the Tower of Babylon type problems starts