Declarative programming: useful for a physics/EEng double major?

Join the discussion
Registration is free. Ask a follow-up in this thread, or start your own.
Sign up Log in
2 replies · 2K views
rabbitweed
Messages
38
Reaction score
0
Hi everyone, been reading stuff here for a while but first time poster:)

I am first year at university going for a Physics/Electrical Engineering. Looking at my options this year and I came across this paper.

159.202 Declarative Programming (15 credits)

Basic functional programming: functions, pattern matching, types, recursion, list processing. Basic logic programming: clauses, recursion, structures, arithmetic, list processing. Programming language concepts. Programming paradigms and language selection.

http://www.massey.ac.nz/massey/study/programme-course-and-paper-search/paper.cfm?paper_code=159202&paper_offering_id=1147238&study_year=2009

Would this be useful for solving problems in undergrad physics/EE? I would be taking this course over "Chemistry and the Material World".

The two textbooks are for Haskell and Prolog, so I am assuming those are the languages taught.

PS: apologies if this is the wrong forum. I'm a noob after all:P
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Physics news on Phys.org
Do I think they would be useful to your education? Probably so. It will be a problem-solving course, most likely, and as such will make you think about problems in new ways. As far as how useful it will be down the road... eh? There are probably more useful ways of spending your time.

The chemistry course will most likely be the opposite... you probably already know much of what it will teach you, and as such won't be the most mind-expanding course you could take. It won't make you think "outside the box". On the other hand, it probably deals with material that you will have much more occasion to use directly.

I'd take the programming class, since an EE/CE will probably work with an CS/SE or two in their career, and exposure to different programming paradigms will increase your computational fluency.
 
I agree with AUMathTutor. Haskell and prolog are two very interesting computer languages, but both are very different (i) from each other and (ii) from Java, C++, Fortran and the usual bunch of suspects. You may find it difficult to link what you learn immediately with physics or EE, but it looks like a red hot computer science course. Do it! Expand your mind... Warning -- if it's as good as it sounds then you might want to change your major from physics to CS, so it could be very useful down the line!