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This space is nowadays occupied by Raspberry Pi. Cheap hackable hobby platform. wrt your kids, programming just isn't for everybody [0] [0] https://blog.codin

• dahart 8y ago
  > wrt your kids, programming just isn't for everybody The paper that article was based on has been retracted. That should make you at least think twice about claiming it's true. It's also studying college undergrads, not children. And it's from 2006, before the iPhone. I honestly don't think it's very relevant to the issue I was referring to. In any case, my kids are both interested in programming and able to do it. They just choose not to, most of the time, because there is a flood of more entertaining and very well designed choices. We didn't have anything like this level of choice when I was a kid. BASIC was it, that's the beauty of it. The environment was so limited, you had no choice but learn to program. At work, we're seeing patterns in hiring as well. Older applicants have all been programming since early teens, while the vast majority of new college grads today started programming in college. It definitely feels like programming is starting later in life, even though general computer literacy is starting earlier and is much more widespread.
  • rusk 8y ago
    The article isn't based on the paper. The paper is cited as an effective means to determine which students have programming talent. you should not be so quick to dismiss an article you haven't read > They just choose not to That's exactly my point. It's not just about aptitude, it's about being interested. In my experience this is the key factor that separates good engineers from great ones: The ability to just sit down and "do it". > the vast majority of new college grads today started programming in college. This has always been the case. Computer Literacy is not the same as being a good programmer, the same way as being able to read is not the same as being a good writer.