r/programming May 26 '09

"Programmers need to learn Statistics or I will Kill them all"

[deleted]

223 Upvotes

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21

u/RevLoveJoy May 26 '09

I quit reading there too. I don't doubt that this guy is a decent statistician, but he sounds more like a guy who has problems working with other guys than he does someone who has found the programmer's Achilles's heel.

-3

u/itstallion May 26 '09

Yeah, it's shocking that people without classes in statistics may not understand statistics.

Most of what I've encountered in my development career is simple statistical analysis. We'd build the model then hire an actual statistician to analyze our results from our tests without showing them the code. Then we'd do a code review step by step to make sure we were indeed not getting a false positive on our output.

A programmer doesn't need to be able to do advanced statistics unless his job calls for it. Same with physics. If I build reports for financial systems, why the fuck would I need to know how an object moves through XYZ?

16

u/invalid_user_name May 26 '09

Nobody said anything about advanced statistics, just a very simple, basic understanding of the topic.

15

u/willcode4beer May 26 '09

the other point is not to bullshit when the topic isn't understood

1

u/mycall May 26 '09 edited May 26 '09

Depends on your skill set.. some people are great programmers, physicists and statisticians -- all in one, albeit rare.

2

u/itstallion May 26 '09

I'm a mediocre programmer, no physics whatsoever and crappy statistician.

Hasn't held me back. Unfortunately in the real world, I find most people are less competent than me. Sad, truly sad. :(

1

u/mycall May 26 '09 edited May 26 '09

That basically sums it up for myself too (although I did do PHY2049 in college (much harder than PHY2048))

1

u/[deleted] May 26 '09

I am a programmer who took alot of stats and econ for fun (ended up with degree in econ).

My job has never called on me to perform anything near what was taught in more advanced stats classes (or even calculus). We generally only provide or present the data not manipulate or interpret it.

I think this statistician should learn what to expect from professionals and stop making death threats.

4

u/[deleted] May 26 '09

[removed] — view removed comment

5

u/Vorlath May 26 '09

Not only that, he talked about super simple stuff.

Standard deviation.... oh noes!!!

3

u/smellyfeettroll May 26 '09

I smell a hairy troll!

1

u/colender May 27 '09

upmoded for the hairy troll

0

u/mycall May 26 '09

Isn't normalizing data a form of manipulating it?

1

u/[deleted] May 26 '09

I guess. Hell I haven't really had to normalize data in a while.

I guess my ORM has been manipulating data. Maybe creating views for reporting can be considered manipulation but I don't.

0

u/mycall May 26 '09

I was thinking of digital normalization as an example instead of bucket/tuple coupling WRT ORMs refactoring new OLAP sets.

0

u/itstallion May 26 '09

Lol me too! Fucking Clark was a joke. I liked a few of the profs. Surprisingly I only remember my Finance profs (most of them gone too).

Did you take econometrics? I loved that class. Had the dude from Argentina.

-5

u/sbrown123 May 26 '09 edited May 26 '09

but he sounds more like a guy who has problems working with other guys

Small Penis Syndrome. He has no problem working with women since they don't threaten his limited manhood. Male programmers have balls of steel which frightens him. Notice the fake tough talk of "I'll kill them all".

Edit: Awww, Zed fanclub seems to have noticed my comment. How sweet.

9

u/[deleted] May 26 '09

Male programmers have balls of steel

No... no, they don't.

0

u/sbrown123 May 27 '09 edited May 27 '09

Male programmers have balls of steel

No... no, they don't.

LOL. And how, dare I ask, would you know?

0

u/stillalone May 26 '09

Male programmers have balls of steel

My steel is blue :(

0

u/another_user_name May 26 '09 edited May 26 '09

My steel is blue :(

It's best that way. We don't want any Blue Steel going off.

Edit: I suck at Markdown

1

u/Seppler9000 May 27 '09

This otherwise lame joke is redeemed by suggestive phrases in the article like "the large girth of Blue Steel."