Complex subject

[agibsonsw]

What is the most complex subject/area in computing?

There is so much jargon, and so many acronyms, involved in computing that obscure many subjects that are otherwise reasonably straight-forward.

Which subject is technically the most difficult to understand? I suspect that candidates are pointers and recursion. Object-oriented programming is
not necessarily that complicated. (These are programming topics, but I mean generally in the field of computing.)

Data encryption is also probably a candidate. I would suggest e-mailing as a candidate. If you've ever tried to configure sending an e-mail from a local
host you might appreciate my suggestion.

[Bowlie]

debugging a visual basic macro?

[StuartR]

What is the most complex subject/area in computing? ...

I think database normalization is pretty difficult, but the hardest area I have had to deal with is understanding how different encryption algorithms work.

[agibsonsw]

Database normalization seems deceptively straight-forward, but applying it in practice to model a 'real-life' system can become overwhelming.

I remember studying encryption to a limited extent at university within a Number Theory module. I think you may be right. Andy.

[HansV]

There are some pretty tough subjects in computing, but if you want something really difficult, try understanding the English-language manual to a Japanese VCR from the 1980s or 1990s.

[PaulB]

Now that is just plain cruel!

[BobH]

Back in the day (35-45 years ago, when I was still programming) the most difficult bits were reading the hardware signals at the machine level in core and responding at the same level. Only ever knew a couple of programmers who could consistently get it done right. The reason it was important was to avoid timeouts by the OS (DOS/VSE, OS/MVS - or what they were before they became those os's).