[deeThrow94]

> That problem solving skills are relevant is pretty obvious, but language less so.

To me, problem solving ability is precisely the same as the ability to articulate the problem and a solution. I don't see a major difference.

If you can solve a problem but you can't articulate what the problem is or why the solution will address it, I wouldn't call you a good problem solver. If you can articulate the problem well but not come up with a solution, you're already doing better than a lot of programmers in the world, and I'd probably prefer working with you over someone who presents the solution without "showing their work".

In fact, what is problem solving without such articulation? It's hard to even grasp what the skill means in a raw sense. Arguably creativity in this context is just the ability to reframe a problem in a more approachable manner. Many times, if not most times, such framing implies some obvious solution or sets of solutions with clear tradeoffs.

[janalsncm]

There are different ways of solving a problem though, some which require more critical thinking than others. Trial and error (in industry you can sound fancy by calling it “choosing parameters empirically”) requires no understanding of the underlying process, only the ability to measure the outcome.

If you’re debugging, you can get by for a long time by trying things until the compiler shuts up. It’s not efficient or good but people do it.

[deeThrow94]

That's fair. I agree that there's more to problem solving than just linguistic ability, so I rescind my claim that they're indistinguishable, but I still think there's a deep relationship between the two.

I have a very difficult time trying to extract the difference between "linguistic ability" and "critical thinking", though:

1. The core difference between "critical thinking" and "uncritical thinking" is the ability to discern incoherency from coherency.

2. Coherency is evaluated at the linguistic level: do the terms bind in meaningful ways to the problem? Do any statements contradict each other?

3. The remaining aspect is "creativity": can you come up with novel ways of approaching the problem? This is the hardest to tie to linguistic ability because it sort of exists outside our ability to operate within an agreed context.

So while I agree these are distinct skills, I still have difficulty identifying what remains in "critical thinking" after linguistic ability is addressed.