I agree with you mostly. I just think that this is an interesting usage of variational calculus, which is not that well understood by other programmers, so I wanted to write this article about this, in order to introduce other programmers to the topic.
And also because I thought the literature about this out there wasn't really that readable, and I always think there is value in writing expository texts like this.
And also because I thought the literature about this out there wasn't really that readable, and I always think there is value in writing expository texts like this.