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mazingerz88's avatar

How smart does one need to be to write complicated codes?

Asked by mazingerz88 (29260points) August 1st, 2018 from iPhone

We’re living in a world now where it seems a few people who can write algorithms have been able to change it.

Are we going to see future Presidents around the world….an American President for example who is a genius at writing codes?

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8 Answers

ARE_you_kidding_me's avatar

I would certainly hope so. Coding requires some serious horsepower mentally.

gorillapaws's avatar

The real genius is writing simple code that’s easy for another programmer to understand and modify. I would say that the vast majority of people are capable of learning the basics of programming. Python is a great language to get started with.

rebbel's avatar

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ScienceChick's avatar

It needs something a great deal more difficult than ‘smart’. It requires logic. It is a language of pure logic and keeping it as simple as possible in its function and paring it down, as @gorillapaws mentions, is the real genius. Speaking in general terms, politics requires the exact opposite of logic. It engages in the confusing emotions of humans that require a very different set of skills than coding, so it would take a very rare individual to span those two areas. A logical person is likely to say a whole bunch of stuff the general public is not going to like or will even take offence at. So, unless he can shut that pure logic centre off and banter and kowtow to the easily digestible soundbites the general public love, he won’t be elected to any position of power. Geez.. do I sound like a cynic? Yeah… but that is just the state of things, isn’t it. I’d LOVE to be proved wrong.

mazingerz88's avatar

Would it not make sense for a logical person to deduce he or she needs to do some acting in order to win a presidency?

LostInParadise's avatar

Technical ability does not imply ability to govern. For example, Jimmy Carter trained as an engineer and, even with the best of intentions, was not very successful as president. Of course at some future date the computers may be capable of governing on their own, but this is not going to happen any time soon.

Zaku's avatar

“Are we going to see future Presidents around the world….an American President for example who is a genius at writing codes?”
– No. Presidents, particularly in the USA, tend to be figureheads and distractions for the public. Even in a country where a head of state isn’t a parody entertainer, the proper job of running a country well is about leadership, diplomacy, understanding situations, administrative and social tasks, and decision-making. Or more cynically, the qualifier for becoming president is the skill of getting elected (and more importantly, having the desired qualities of the party and other string-pullers who will let you have any chance of using those skills). Being a programmer might give some logical insights and understanding of computer-related issues, but I don’t see someone inventing a great program to help them be president.

(Except maybe the idiotic “oh he’s a celebrity software biillionaire – maybe he should run for president” notion which I have heard when Zuckerberg was testifying before Congress about his company’s abuses of power. That’s only somewhat better than “this reality TV star billionaire conman sure gets attention and seems to get people excited in one way or another – maybe he should run for president”. Sigh. It seems like there may be a need for minimum comprehension of related ideas before anyone can vote.)

Patty_Melt's avatar

Smart? How about patient?

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