[ww520]

That’s what programming is. Programming is applying computerized solutions to different problem domains. To make a successful problem, you have to learn about the targeted domain and sometimes become an expert in it. In this case the problem domain is quadratic factoring.

[colinmhayes]

This isn't helpful for say econ majors who want to build econometric models though. The class sounds like it is specifically for non cs majors so it doesn't really make sense to get into theory that might not apply to their studies.

[ww520]

Right. Sometimes we are forced to go outside of our comfort zone. A software engineer might not care much about insurance actuary, bank money transfer, railroad signal rules, or econ supply/demand curves. But when the job calls for creating programs to do those areas, he better learns those fast, on the fly. That class taught an important reality of software development. You have to be willing to learn something you're not familiar to get the job done, and how well you understand the problem domain directly affects how well the program is developed.

So the class was not tailored for the econ major, but at the college level, students need to learn that no one is going to hand a solution on a silver platter for your problem.