I replied to the author, here: https://twitter.com/jfarmer/status/1274828706893066240 https://twitter.com/jfarmer/status/1274828706893066240 I think the author

I replied to the author, here: https://twitter.com/jfarmer/status/1274828706893066240 https://twitter.com/jfarmer/status/1274828706893066240 I think the author falls into the trap of "transmissionism". There's a universe of facts out there and students learn them one after another by interacting with the environment (directly, via a teacher, via simulation, via textbook, whatever). But take an example like learning how to cook a medium-rare steak. "Cook the steak until it feels like the flesh on your cheek." What does it mean to "learn" that lesson? Anyone can say it out loud, obviously, even someone who has never cooked a steak. The lesson about becoming sensitive to what a medium rare steak feels like when touched. What "simulation" or "video game" can capture that without reaching Matrix-like levels of fidelity? As Carl Sagan said: "If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe." When you simulate, you're creating _some_ universe first, but you have no way of knowing if it's faithful to _our_ universe. Better to start with the actual environment and help people improve the way they pay attention, react to the feedback they're already receiving without realizing, build better tools to navigate unfamiliar terrain, etc. Let our universe work for you rather than having to invent the universe before you even start. People might object to the steak example or might try to carve out things that require "physical" knowledge, but I think people underestimate how much of programming is like learning to cook a steak. What are you going to "simulate" in order to develop a coding student's ability to detect "code smells", for example? Developing that sense isn't just about memorizing the 198723 things that count as a code smell. Most programmers can't even explain _why_ something is a code smell in a simulatable way, which is why we describe via metaphor to a sense rather than an acquired skill. But unlike our sense of smell it's _obviously_ acquired. Nobody's born with the ability to detect code smells.