Everyone knows that laptop or computer programming is a heavily male-dominated field. I believe this is unfortunate. Over the years, I’ve come to conclude that there is a great deal that females can contribute to this field.
Why is laptop or computer programming regarded as a primarily masculine discipline? I think that in part, it is since men have a reputation for being much more likely to tinker around with gadgets and gizmos. In component, it is also since computer science is supposedly a really math-oriented field, and men are supposedly much more inclined toward mathematical disciplines.
(Incidentally, I know that such generalizations would offend particular people. I’d like to emphasize that this is not my intent at all, nor do I wish to make excessively broad generalizations about either gender. Nonetheless, a multitude of psychological studies do claim that men haveon the averagea higher aptitude for mathematics and mechanics than females do, whereas women tend to perform greater at linguistics and communication. These tendencies coincide well with my own observations, so for now, I’ll assume that these studies are reasonable descriptions of gender differences.)
Anyway, individuals frequently claim that men make far better programmers simply because they are a lot more mathematically inclined. Personally, I disagree. It is accurate that personal computer science is quite much mathematical in nature nevertheless, laptop or computer programming typically is not. It’s true that a software developer ought to comprehend fundamental concepts such as binary computations, round-off error and Boolean logic however, for most programming tasks, there is little require for calculus, group theory or other advanced mathematical topics. For this reason, I think that the importance of a strong mathematical aptitude is largely overblown.
Indeed, I feel that linguistic skill is decidedly more essential. I’d say that in years past, about 90% of the programmers that I encountered produced sloppy codesoftware that is clumsily structured, poorly documented and tough to recognize. I’ve also noticed a strong correlation between linguistic skill and the ability to generate clean, legible code. And why not? Computer languages are, soon after all, just thatlanguages. It’s thus reasonable to expect that somebody with a powerful language aptitude willon the averageproduce cleaner, far more understandable code than someone whose language skills are lackluster.
That is one reason why I wish much more ladies would pursue a programming career. If it is indeed accurate that females have better language abilities, then they are likely to perform well with laptop or computer languages as well. Again, this jibes well with my own experiences. I haven’t recognized many female programmers, but most of the ones that I do know have produced some rather outstanding work. (To be fair, I’ve also known some lousy female programmers however, these people had little passion for their field, and only entered it for the sake of a paycheck. That’s a fairly excellent recipe for mediocrity, regardless of one’s gender.)
Breaking into this field may not be straightforward. I’m sure that numerous ladies will have to combat the prejudiced notion that software development is a man’s field, and that female programmers are mere dilettantes. Still, it is my earnest hope that much more females will make their marks in this arena. If they have the proper passion for this field, and if they understand their strengths, then I think that they have much to supply.