As Andy Moorer puts it, “Basically all you have to do is read a book on computer programming, and you're an instant computer scientist.” Alan Kay insists that m

As Andy Moorer puts it, “Basically all you have to do is read a book on computer programming, and you're an instant computer scientist.” Alan Kay insists that most of computer science can be mastered in one year of close attention. That's how young a science it is. There's a great value in that simplicity; it empowers people and arguably is a leading reason for all the innovation that has followed. As we make things more complex - UEFI, systemd, HTML5, HTTP/2, Google's AMP-based email proposal, email authentication technologies (DKIM, etc) and more come to mind - we disempower more and more people. I'm not saying that none of the technologies above should have been implemented; sometimes complexity is worthwhile. But we should work hard to maintain the simplicity (and transparency) that creates a 'freedom to tinker' in the practical sense, not just in the legal sense. Should the computer program the kid or should the kid program the computer?