Maths is not the only metaphor for IT

In software development (or programming, or software engineering, or whatever it is called today) we use a lot of metaphor derived from the world of maths. We make a program from algorithms which in turn are made of functions and so on. It seems natural, therefore, that a high degree of mathematics should be a prerequisite for programming.

However, I think we are in danger of confusing a metaphor for a foundation. For instance, it is also true that we use linguistics as a metaphor - we have syntax trees and computer languages, yet I don't know of any university that has linguistics or a modern language as a prerequisite for their computer science degree.

I also think this is slightly harmful. It is the case (though I know not why) that their is a very large gender discrepancy in maths that increases as you go up the educational scale and this means that if you require maths as a prerequisite for your CS course you import that gender discrepancy. There has been a lot of analysis of the increasing gender gap in programming - this might be worth further study.

I tweeted that I thought that chess (or Dungeons and Dragons ) is more useful a background for a developer than maths, because it teaches rules, branching and goal seeking. Whilst a bit flippant (due to the restrictions of 140 characters) it does hold some truth - I studied BSc Computer Science at Aston University because (at the time) it was one of the few universities in the UK that didn't require A-level maths as a prerequisite. I don't think the lack of it has held my IT career back too badly in the intervening 22+ years.