[steveklabnik]

Until you've demonstrated programming has some biological basis, this 'argument' is absolutely ridiculous.

[crazy1van]

I think it's less about ability and more about interest.

[sp332]

Right, that's what this fixes.

[drz]

No, it isn't. You can't dictate interest.

[sp332]

It is trivially easy to influence interest. http://www.washington.edu/news/2013/06/25/more-women-pick-co...

[drz]

This study is about stereotypes, not interest, not merit, not anything that's actually relevant.

You know what shows interest? A female willingly taking and passing CS courses. Not this bullshit.

[sp332]

What you need is a study showing how many women showed interest and then were talked out of it. http://www.npr.org/2012/07/12/156664337/stereotype-threat-wh...

[drz]

Men absolutely dominate in the 120+ IQ range, and high IQ is very strongly correlated with abstract reasoning.

[sp332]

But do 120+ IQ people dominate computer programming?

[drz]

You're not going to do well in computer programming unless you can reason abstractly.

[sp332]

You make this statement with no evidence.

[drz]

Programming is abstract reasoning. Apart from some syntax memorization, there's nothing more to it. Even design patterns are optional, and can be independently discovered.