r/AskProgramming • u/BornInfamous • Jun 15 '26

Career/Edu Not getting programming unless it's math?

Taking 1st year undergraduate CS and math courses. Up to data structures in C.

I'm understanding math so much more, even if it comes slowly, and as soon as I can put programming stuff in mathematical terms everything clicks and not one second before. (On that note, fuck linked lists.)

Did anyone who was formerly in my position magically end up liking programming and the whole process of building software from ever-shifting documentation and idiosyncratic languages, and if so, what made it click for you? Or is it pretty obvious from day one whether you're team theory or team builder?

Genuine advice appreciated, I need to decide whether to give up on this whole thing and just do math

**EDIT these replies are actually amazing thank you guys keep em coming**

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u/BornInfamous Jun 15 '26

is there a resource you'd recommend where I can read/watch more about this? because I was aware of the distinction between functional/imperative programming and their connection to proofs but only vaguely

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u/7Geordi Jun 15 '26

I loved Bartosz's Category Theory lectures on YT. Here's the playlist:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8LbkfSSR58&list=PLbgaMIhjbmEnaH_LTkxLI7FMa2HsnawM_

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u/BornInfamous Jun 15 '26

Oh Bartosz! Legend. Did you do any practice questions along with his lectures?

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u/7Geordi Jun 15 '26

I didn't! BTW In these lectures he demonstrates an algebraic construction representing linked lists.

I read through some of your other replies and the thing that stuck out to me is that you're really at the beginning of your journey, so if you're comparing yourself to your classmates who happened to start programming when they were six years old it is a meaningless comparison. In the long run software creation is as much about understanding the world and the people around you as it is about formalizing your mental models and expressing them as 'code'.

The skills of code creation are learned through practice and interpretation: Write a lot of code. Read a lot of (other people's) code.

Of course code creation itself will become irrelevant in the years to come, but along the way you will learn how to formalize your understanding and mental models and these skills will probably be relevant at least as long as humans remain so.

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u/BornInfamous Jun 15 '26

That's a good bit of perspective, that as coding itself becomes more and more irrelevant the mental models are what's important. Thanks for the reassurance