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Comment by sfn42 | Hacker News Reader

I love that essay. It's such a joy to read, and even though it is very short and to the point it says so much both about the topic itself and society at large.

And its just so obviously correct.

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It is not obviously correct. The unstated premise is that programming is - or should be - similar to writing mathematical proofs.

The proofs/programs (Howard/Curry) correspondance has been fairly well established I think.

It's the requirements discovery phase that always breaks every pure mathematical treatment of software development.

(And also, like DW points, that software is way more complex. But on this case, it's the requirements discovery.)

That’s because it’s not pure math, but applied math. Which also has the requirements discovery phase.

Yes, and constructing mathematical theories is completely different from finding proofs.

It is a bit like architecture is just physics or painting is just chemistry. Technically true in some reductionist sense, but not necessarily the most useful way to think about it.

No, the premise is that programming is the act of writing precise specifications, which is easier in a precise language. Similarly to mathematical proofs.

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IMHO you are going way way way to far. Far in the weeds.

Nah, I think they're probably seeing warning signs. So much Djikstra's writing is pseudo intellectual pretensious word salad. Which is a shame bc he was an actual intellectual.

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