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To the brain, reading computer code is not the same as reading language

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Resurfaced independently across 3 calendar years, with breakout response in 2 of them.

submissions
4
submitters
3
observed span
2020–2024
peak thread · 229 comments
365 pts
latest 20+ return · 2024-05-26
52 pts

Submission timeline

2007–2026

One slot for every year since HN launched. Height is that year's peak points; orange marks a 100+ point or 50+ comment breakout. Select a bar to open its strongest thread.

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It's only briefly mentioned, but learning to read music is quite similar in terms of brain function to learning programming. It's symbolic, logical and structured. My university went so far as to allow students with a bachelor's degree in music to directly enter the computer science master's program.

The paper wasn't linked as far as I can tell but is probably https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7738192/pdf/eli... > While the programmers lay in a functional magnetic resonance (fMRI) scanner, the researchers showed them snippets of code and asked them to predict what action the code would produce I have a suspicion that writing code and understanding that written by someone else are different skill sets.

Comments moved to https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40480913.

dang·52-point thread·

The first top-level comment from each of the four biggest threads, in HN’s own order. Excerpts are shortened; open a comment for full context.

Breakout years
2

100+ points or 50+ comments

Total points
730

reference only — not used in Hall rules or ranking

Total comments
436

reference only — not used in Hall rules or ranking

Every submission