Do you really think people could make programmable microchips and processing units before they figured out physics?
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AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 7 months agoI’m not entirely sure of that. You can’t have comp sci without algebra and potentially calculus. I could see a society that developed all three fields before they codified Physics
loudWaterEnjoyer@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 months ago
AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 7 months ago
No, but mechanical concerns mputwrs existed before microchips. They just weren’t terribly useful
SkyezOpen@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Once I get my mechanical computer to run crysis we’ll see who’s laughing.
Honytawk@lemmy.zip 7 months ago
Wouldn’t you also need to know physics in order to make a mechanical computer?
AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Not necessarily. We had the theory before both calculus and physics.
loudWaterEnjoyer@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 months ago
What kind of argumentation is this? Are we talking about mechanical engineering or computer science? Please don’t bent reality the way it fits your shape.
force@lemmy.world 7 months ago
How do you have computer science without calculus? Calculus is literally necessary for computer science, otherwise it’d just be like… shitty statistics with a little programming
Miaou@jlai.lu 7 months ago
Care to expand? Things like complexity theory and type theory, for example, have nothing to do with calculus
force@lemmy.world 7 months ago
In general, a lot of the stuff computer science shares with data science uses calculus, a lot of the statistics too, but also visuals and modelling other sciences (e.g. simulations) use calculus heavily. I recall utilising vector calc a decent amount when working with Vulkan, for example
Miaou@jlai.lu 7 months ago
Sounds like programming more than CS, in that case, fair enough. Also the linear algebra in computer graphics is, well, algebra, not calculus.
AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 7 months ago
It would be inelegant as all fuck, but you could get away with just algebra, there are comp sci courses that only need algebra as the foundation.
force@lemmy.world 7 months ago
as far as i can tell, the ones that do that are usually just programming courses with “computer science” slapped onto the title. but i havent exactly gone to many colleges so i don’t have the experience to say so.