Mozart Could've Been an Engineer - Music + Code

Would you hire an opera singer to build your website? A pianist to build your mobile app? After this talk, you might not think it’s a crazy idea.
As I transitioned from professional opera singer to web developer, I was blown away by the many parallels between music and code. During this talk, you’ll learn about those parallels by examining the similarities in syntax, structure, and learning process. As real-world examples, we’ll compare “Mary Had a Little Lamb” to a “Hello, World” app, and we’ll see how Bach might have coded a Rails Todo app.
Along the way, we’ll see how musical training strengthens pattern recognition, problem solving and collaboration, helping us become better software engineers.
Warning: parts of this talk may be sung. Yes, you may bring your own instruments.

Transcript

1. Mozart Could’ve Been an Engineer Music + Code
2. • Parallels between music and code • Musician’s brain == Coder’s brain • How we learn • How we build • How we problem solve • How we succeed What’s Happening Here?
3. Catherine Meyers @ccmeyers324 mavenlink.com/engineering Opera Singer / Software Engineer slides: bit.ly/music-code-ruby
4. Studies on Musical Training and the Brain @ccmeyers324
5. Cold, Hard #funfacts! 1. Watson, Alan H D. “What studying musicians tell us about motor control of the hand.“ School of Biosciences, Cardiff University. http:// www.musicandhealth.co.uk/articles/WatsonReview06.pdf 2. Schellenberg, E. Glenn. “Long-Term Positive Associations Between Music Lessons and IQ.” Journal of Educational Psychology. http:// www.erin.utoronto.ca/~w3psygs/JEdPsych2006.pdf 3. Habibi, Assai et.al. “Neural correlates of accelerated auditory processing in children engaged in music training”. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1878929315301122 4. Luke-Ebbeler, Merrilee. “Why are so many software developers also musicians?”. https://teamgaslight.com/blog/why-are-so-many-software-developers- also-musicians • Pianists have a more symmetrical central sulcus, the part of the brain that gives evidence of right/left handedness • Learning to play an instrument is linked to a higher IQ • Music education is associated with enhanced ability to process speech and language • IBM used to recruit music majors to hire as programmers @ccmeyers324
6. Who the Heck am I?? @ccmeyers324
7. @ccmeyers324
8. @ccmeyers324
9. @ccmeyers324
10. Opera Singer => Software Engineer??? WAT??? @ccmeyers324
11. @ccmeyers324
12. @ccmeyers324
13. Break it down now! @ccmeyers324
14. def statement_of_fact(language) puts “#{language} is the coolest!” end statement_of_fact(“Ruby”) @ccmeyers324
15. @ccmeyers324
16. @ccmeyers324
17. @ccmeyers324
18. @ccmeyers324
19. @ccmeyers324
20. @ccmeyers324
21. @ccmeyers324
22. @ccmeyers324
23. # config/routes.rb Rails.application.routes.draw do resources :lists do resources :tasks end root 'lists#index' end # app/controllers/lists_controller.rb class ListsController < ApplicationController def index @lists = List.all end ... end # app/controllers/tasks_controller.rb class TasksController < ApplicationController def create @list = List.find(params[:list_id]) @task = @list.tasks.create(task_params) redirect_to list_path(@list) end ... end # app/models/list.rb class List < ApplicationRecord has_many :tasks, dependent: :destroy validates :title, presence: true end # app/models/task.rb class Task < ApplicationRecord belongs_to :list validates :title, presence: true end # app/views/lists/show.html.erb <h2><%= @list.title %></h2> <% if @list.tasks %> <%= render @list.tasks %> <% end %> <h3>Add a task:</h3> <%= render "tasks/form" %> @ccmeyers324
24. PATTERNS @ccmeyers324
25. def statement_of_fact(language) puts “#{language} is the coolest!” end statement_of_fact(“Ruby”) @ccmeyers324
26. # config/routes.rb Rails.application.routes.draw do resources :lists do resources :tasks end root 'lists#index' end # app/controllers/lists_controller.rb class ListsController < ApplicationController def index @lists = List.all end ... end # app/controllers/tasks_controller.rb class TasksController < ApplicationController def create @list = List.find(params[:list_id]) @task = @list.tasks.create(task_params) redirect_to list_path(@list) end ... end # app/models/list.rb class List < ApplicationRecord has_many :tasks, dependent: :destroy validates :title, presence: true end # app/models/task.rb class Task < ApplicationRecord belongs_to :list validates :title, presence: true end # app/views/lists/show.html.erb <h2><%= @list.title %></h2> <% if @list.tasks %> <%= render @list.tasks %> <% end %> <h3>Add a task:</h3> <%= render "tasks/form" %> @ccmeyers324
27. @ccmeyers324
28. Break it down now! @ccmeyers324
29. @ccmeyers324
30. @ccmeyers324
31. @ccmeyers324
32. @ccmeyers324
33. @ccmeyers324
34. Information Processing @ccmeyers324
38. Music Education and the Corpus Callosum image source: http://ohiofetalmedicine.org/ source: Collins, Anita. “How playing an instrument benefits your brain.” http://ed.ted.com/ lessons/how-playing-an-instrument-benefits-your-brain-anita-collins @ccmeyers324
39. A B Problem Solving @ccmeyers324
40. Never, never, never give up. Winston Churchill @ccmeyers324
41. concept introduced by Carol Dweck @ccmeyers324
42. Collaboration @ccmeyers324 Photo courtesy of #WOCinTech Chat
43. Why Does this Matter? • Don’t let untapped resources pass you by • Diverse backgrounds make a difference • Music education matters • Don’t be afraid to get into (or back into) music @ccmeyers324
44. Thank You! @ccmeyers324 cmeyers@mavenlink.com mavenlink.com/engineering slides: bit.ly/music-code-ruby