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@bscross32@tweesecake.social

2026-07-30 18:25 UTC

@jscholes@dragonscave.space @matt@toot.cafe Maybe for some things. Like if I want to write a utility to sanitize all filenames in a given directory so they'll work on all 3 major operating systems without complaint, sure, the math requirement on that won't be bad. On the other hand, If I want to do anything game or music related, it's math. I'm not sure if you're familiar with the game Periphery Synthetic EP? It blends exploration, ambient music, and clever sound design into a pretty chill experience. Everything is done with realtime synthesis. A lot of Fm going on, dozens of voices playing simultaneously. I'd love to be able to create environments like that, but there's no way of doing that programmatically without understanding math. And when I say I'm bad at math, I don't mean I'm bad at algebra, calculus, or trigonometry. I mean I'm bad at the very basics. I've looked up formulae to do things only to be aghast at how simple some of it is. So maybe for some things, math isn't a requirement, but for what I'd like to do, it definitely is. I think it's disingenuous to tell people that programming and math aren't strongly linked, at least without attempting to glean from them what it is they'd like to accomplish.

Replies (1)

  • @jscholes@dragonscave.space 2026-07-30 18:43

    @bscross32@tweesecake.social My apologies, I wasn't intending for that to be offensive or even that controversial. I've made both a career and a hobby out of software development and my lack of math ability has never held me back. I haven't built a music synthesiser or video game with realistic physics, but I think I've built some pretty cool and impactful things. I was treating it as a given that if you want to model complex concepts within your code, you will need to have a working understanding of those concepts or have support from people who do (e.g. on a team). Maybe I should've been more explicit about that. @matt@toot.cafe

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