The idea of tensors as "a matrix of numbers" or the example of a cube with vectors on every face never clicked for me. It was this (NASA paper)[https://www.grc.nasa.gov/www/k-12/Numbers/Math/documents/Ten...] what finally brought me clarity. The main idea, as others already commented, is that a tensor or rank n is a function that can be applied up to n vector, reducing its rank by one for each vector it consumes.

In your cube example you are using the word "vector" to refer to faces of the cube. Did you mean matrix?

My understanding is that the cube is a rank 3 tensor, the faces (or rather slices) of the cube are rank 2 tensors (aka matrices), and the edges (slices) of the matrices are rank 1 tensors (aka vectors).

> a tensor or rank n is a function that can be applied up to n vector

There seems to be a grammar problem here.

But, in practice, how often do we ask a tensor to consume a vector?

Math and Physics equations are full of beauty capable of transmit the same joy as poetry. The main difficulty is that they require more study.

For me, looking at Maxwell equations is a source of pleasure. Also, after improving my understanding of the Laplacian, I came to appreciate the heat equation.

My same thoughts. The inventors of that revolutionary toggle button should all be tied to the South side of an ass walking towards the North.

The alternative, using general programming languages, is a terrible idea. The last thing I want to do when dealing with a domain specific configuration is trying to figure the meaning out of hundreds of poorly written, badly abstracted, totally undocumented, lines of code.

For one moment I thought this was the equivalent of SQLite for EdgeDB and the idea made me very happy.

I think parent comment (by @sebzim4500) is the clearest most concise summary of the argument stated in the article.

Another evidence is to ask GPT for a link with a reference for the answers it gives: it'll generate them instead of copying them.

I think we never get over animism completely, like this old Ikea Lamp ad shows: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBqhIVyfsRg

May I suggest you to take another look at refactoring? I think that if you love unit testing and debugging, you probably would love refactoring too. I like that I don't have to worry to find the perfect name for my functions and methods _on the first try_, and that I can focus in making code that works first, and after that I can worry in making clearer and more understandable.

Now, to be fair, I also like the common practices in the industry too. Scrum or kanban, ticket creation and estimation, and daily stand ups. When you're part of a team you need a lot of communication and effort to keep everybody working in the same direction. Besides, managers want to be kept informed. The how is not as important as the why.