>Jerry,
>
><snip>
>>I'm not sure about the BA. When many of my students asked me how much math they needed to know in order to program, the answer wasn't an easy one. Programming requires linear thinking and logic skills, the ability to understand math concepts like Set Theory, contructions like arrays and indexes, number bases like octal, hexidecimal and binary, abstract thinking, and possibly more if the project envolves math, physical or biological knowledge. A person cannot program what they do not understand. So, I'd tell them to apply programming to solve problems they have experience with. A programmer who holds a BS will proabably be, on average, better than one who obtained a BA. If not better, they will be able to apply the art or programming to a greater number of disciplines. There are probably a lot of BS programmers (no pun intended) who could not write a program to solve a Gausian-Jordan sweep, or a simplex algebra problem because the math is beyond them.
>>
>
>While I agree with you in concept, and the skills you describe are certainly necessary, there's much more to being a software developer than just understanding a Gausian-Jordan sweep (I actually know what that is (g) but couldn't necessarily write a program to solve it without reviewing some old texts) or any other complex mathematical or scientific issue for that matter. Some of it could easily be considered "arts" rather than "science".
>
>One statement you make I'm in total agreement with -- "a person cannot program what they do not understand". What separates the developers *I* respect over all the others is the ability to TRULY UNDERSTAND AND SOLVE PROBLEMS FOR THE CLIENT. Being able to -REALLY- understand what your clients want and/or need, knowing what (or, in some cases, WHO) is necessary to fulfill those needs, and satisfying those needs in a professional manner. This requires the developer to understand more than just the nuts and bolts of building the actual code. If you can't understand what the end product is, you can't complete the task even if you know all the formulaic computations.
>
>This, at least to me, also requires considerably more experience than, say, determining the signal dispersal pattern of a 1500-foot tower with 10K watts of transmitter power at 1600KHz over flat terrain (BG)(ducking).


Ah, a weak AM radio station to be sure... do you have the humidity, temp and geographical coordinates... it will make solving the problem a lot easier... :)