Programmer Musings

Programmers and Pattern Matching

Contrary to expectations, many programmers do not solve problems through logic. This should not be surprising, as the same is true of humans in general. But many programmers I've known whole-heartedly disagree with that comment.

I've noticed that many really good programmers are extremely good at pattern recognition and solve many problems through a creative use of that skill. The human brain actually has amazing capabilities for pattern recognition. Two really good examples of this skill are language and facial recognition. When you think about it, much of language consists of recognizing patterns of sounds at a level below conscious thought and reinterpreting that into a higher level meaning. The ability to pick up subtle clues from a person's expression or recognize a person after many years (and the physical changes that come with that time) is truly amazing when you stop to think about it.

Most really good programmers are fascinated by patterns. They often play with patterns in ways that non-programmers might find bizarre. Many programmers really get caught up in puns, word-play, debate, poetry, and other forms of linguistic patterns. Many are fascinated by puzzles and mazes. Some spend lots of time with art. In all of these cases, the programmers seem to be exercising their pattern skills more than most.

It turns out that pattern recognition can be a really efficient method of solving problems. Either deductive or inductive reasoning requires walking through all of the relevant data of the problem one step at a time and connectinve them all together. Pattern matching allows you to focus on the shape of the problem to recognize a problem you've seen before. If you don't agree that the pattern recognition is easier, compare recognizing the face of a friend to the effort of describing that friend in enough detail for someone to draw them.

This ability allows a programmer to solve complex problems by breaking it into simpler problems that are recognized and therefore already (or simply) solved. This approach leaves the programmer free to concentrate on the new, interesting problems, instead of wasting brain power on the stuff that he/she recognizes. Over time, this develops into a very large mental list of patterns and solutions that can be applied at a moment's notice.

Some programmers allow this habit to get them stuck in a rut. They always apply the same solution even if better techniques exist. The better programmers are constantly learning so that they have a set of tools to apply to most problems. This still allows the efficiency of the pattern recognition approach with the power of a (near) custom solution if necessary.