6 ms·
Incidentally, that's exactly what Russell Kirsch (invented the first programmable computer) told me when I ran into him in a coffee shop in Portland. He said:
by joelrunyon 11y ago
Incidentally, that's exactly what Russell Kirsch (invented the first programmable computer) told me when I ran into him in a coffee shop in Portland.
He said:
> “I’ve been against Macintosh company lately. They’re trying to get everyone to use iPads and when people use iPads they end up just using technology to consume things instead of making things. With a computer you can make things. You can code, you can make things and create things that have never before existed and do things that have never been done before.”
The full story is here - http://impossiblehq.com/an-unexpected-ass-kicking/ http://impossiblehq.com/an-unexpected-ass-kicking/
I hope it doesn't seem like I'm trying to link to my own stuff, but you asked for anecdotes :-/
- jjtheblunt 11y ago"(invented the first programmable computer)" ? Citation?
- reverend_gonzo 11y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell_A._Kirsch https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell_A._Kirsch In 1951 Kirsch joined the National Bureau of Standards (NBS) as part of the team which ran SEAC, the Standards Eastern Automatic Computer.[2] SEAC was the U.S.'s first stored-program computer to become operational.
- zumatic 11y agolinked from that page: """ The University of Manchester's Small-Scale Experimental Machine (SSEM)[15] is generally recognized as world's first electronic computer that ran a stored program—an event that occurred on 21 June 1948.[16][17] However the SSEM was not regarded as a full-fledged computer, but more a proof of concept predecessor to the Manchester Mark 1 computer, which was first put to research work in April 1949. On 6 May 1949 the EDSAC in Cambridge ran its first program, making it arguably "the first complete and fully operational regular electronic digital stored-program computer".[18] It is sometimes claimed that the IBM SSEC, operational in January 1948, was the first stored-program computer;[19] this claim is controversial, not least because of the hierarchical memory system of the SSEC, and because some aspects of its operations, like access to relays or tape drives, were determined by plugging.[20] """ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stored-program_computer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stored-program_computer
- CamperBob2 11y agoI'm afraid that puts him at least 10-20 years behind the curve. Still not someone whose words on the subject should be dismissed lightly, of course.
- fanf2 11y agoAlso, Kirsch joined the SEAC team in 1951 after SEAC was already operational.
- superuser2 11y agoI agree in theory, but in practice a K12 student-facing Windows desktop is no more programmable than an iPad. You are locked down to a small subset of site-licensed applications your domain administrator has deemed appropriate for the least common denominator in your age group. All forms of customization are disabled with Group Policy. Novell and Citrix application delivery are common, so you don't even have a Start menu but a proprietary launcher. Extremely aggressive Internet filtering bans large swaths of content about networking to prevent students from learning how to bypass the filter. Our IT department enabled access to the hilariously antiquated QBasic environment only for students currently enrolled in a programming course and revoked it the next semester. You had to sign a special waiver saying you promised to only write code directly in fulfillment of course requirements and not do any independent experimentation or goofing around. I get it, but K12 students on non-iPads aren't getting Linux, they're definitely not getting root, and they're probably not getting user-mode code execution either. You'd need to change the entire culture around K12 IT to make that happen. The best way for kids to learn to be hackers is on their hardware, free from school or parental controls.
- snowwrestler 11y agoI think iPads in education are really aimed at replacing textbooks, which in their paper form never gave students any authoring/hacking capability either. In this context, consumption is the correct way to think of what the iPad enables. But instead of thinking of it like a broken computer, folks can think of it like a lighter, more up-to-date, interactive textbook. In terms of evaluating Apple as a company, one has to look at their whole product line. iPads may be locked down, but Macs are great platforms for kids to tinker. They ship with a ton of programming languages and integrate with all sorts of free open source technologies. And I agree that personal hardware is the best place to hack. Decades ago, school computers were the only place to hack because school was the only place to actually put hands on a computer. Today computers (even Macs) are much more affordable, especially used.
- mhuffman 11y agoAlso each book can be licensed and charged independently. No more sharing or copying knowledge for free for those filthy free-loading kids!
- mrcwinn 11y agoIt's a nice thought, but in practice I doubt it matters all that much. I remember when I was a kid, for most of the class computers were meant for one thing and one thing only: Playing Oregon Trail. But there are always one or two kids (I was one of them and I bet you were too!) who wanted to play with code or build something. For those interested in computers, we'll find how to get our hands on them!
- cableshaft 11y agoI made choose your own adventure games using Hypercard on the only Macintosh in the school in like, third or fourth grade. I'm an outlier though, I know. I also played a lot of Oregon Trail, Number Munchers, and Gertrude's Secrets at school.
- MCRed 11y agoThe idea that you can't make things on iPads is kinda silly. There's all kinds of things you can make on iPads and iPhones. iMovie, painting apps and all that are creative outlets. Yes, you need a computer to compile code, but I think k-12 is not really the code compiling scene-- maybe 9th-12th graders, sure, but that's not what the teachers are going to teach (high school teachers that can teach programming are very rare.)
- dunham 11y agoIt's mostly consumption, but there are some opportunities for creativity. For example, "Hopscotch" - http://www.gethopscotch.com http://www.gethopscotch.com - looks promising. It's a visual programming language (plug and socket) with graphics primitives that includes tutorial videos/lessons and a social networking aspect for sharing your creations. It looks like they've gotten some engagement, with people creating little games.
- dayaz36 11y agoI remember reading this when it was first published like 4 years ago!