January 2, 2026
Double-entry, double-drama
Accounting for Computer Scientists (2011)
Programmers say “Accounting is just a money map” — and the internet fights about bagels vs. burritos
TLDR: A classic post reframes accounting as a simple money map, inspiring some readers to build tools while others still stumble on double-entry bookkeeping. The community split: builders cheer, skeptics beg for clearer basics—important because founders and freelancers need accounting that finally makes sense.
A 2011 explainer claiming accounting is basically a map of money—dots and arrows, like a subway chart—has resurfaced, and the crowd is split. Some readers swooned over the bagel-and-burrito examples, calling it the rare guide that makes dollars and sense. One fan even vowed to build a tool on top of it, promising to have an AI spin up code and slap a simple app (a command-line tool, or CLI) on it. Meanwhile, the hall monitors rolled in with the “seen it before” energy, dropping “Previously on…” links like it’s a rerun marathon.
But the real scrum? Double-entry bookkeeping—the idea that every payment has two sides: where the money came from and where it went. Some readers said the graph metaphor finally clicked. Others felt blindsided—again—by that one line that “every transaction appears twice,” arguing accountants always skip the part where newbies get lost. One self-described accounting class dropout showed up for a redemption arc, while another commenter plugged their earlier “simple explanation” comment. Jokes flew about expense categories like “bagels vs. burritos” and whether a second-hand Aeron chair deserves its own fan club. Verdict: half the crowd is ready to code their ledger, the other half still wants someone to explain why money needs two entries to buy one bagel.
Key Points
- •Accounting is presented as a graph where accounts are nodes and transactions are edges labeled with amounts.
- •Money flows in the direction of edge arrows, illustrating transfers between accounts or categories.
- •Expense items can be grouped into abstract categories (e.g., “food,” “furniture”) to simplify the graph.
- •Multiple transactions between the same nodes can be tracked individually or summed to totals.
- •Account balances are computed by starting at zero and adding incoming amounts while subtracting outgoing amounts across all edges.