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>Early computers were about building, not consuming. How early are we talking about? I'd go out on a limb and say that most kids who owned Commodore 64s (for e

>Early computers were about building, not consuming. How early are we talking about? I'd go out on a limb and say that most kids who owned Commodore 64s (for example) never got much further programming than LOAD “*”,8,1

Terretta 5y ago
Depends on the age? My sample size, granted only about a dozen of Commodore 64 and Apple ][ owners, says 100% got at least as far as typing programs in from magazines. More than half made programs to calculate things, about a third made their own video games. Of the total, at least half are engineering now (software, energy, communications), and the video game segment are software engineering leadership. It's not clear to me how to replicate this experience today, though I applaud games such as Human Resource Machine: https://tomorrowcorporation.com/humanresourcemachine https://tomorrowcorporation.com/humanresourcemachine More, all over the map though: https://shecancode.io/coding-games https://shecancode.io/coding-games I think there's something to be said for exposure to coding as a kind of digital literacy that should be required going forward, in a "WTF even is code anyway" sense.
- TheOtherHobbes 5y ago
  I suspect there's a lot of survivor bias in your informal survey. Across all brands, tens of millions of 8-bit systems were sold in the early 80s. The number of users who became engineers is maybe 10% of that - at most. I think it's impossible to reproduce that experience exactly today, because any modern attempt has to compete with many other sources of digital distraction. Minecraft and Roblox probably come closest. (And do a decent job in modern terms.) I suspect psychological, emotional, and digital content literacy - understanding how games and media manipulate beliefs and influence behaviour - is much more important than coding skill today.
  - Terretta 5y ago
    Not seeing the survivor bias. It’s a sample of about a dozen, 30 years ago, all sampled again now. Different nationalities from different walks of life and backgrounds, colocated for a few years in a third world country. What I could see is a few layers of selection bias, as in, expat children of expat parents that would work in third world and buy their children computers and put them in an expat middle school.

Terretta 5y ago

Depends on the age? My sample size, granted only about a dozen of Commodore 64 and Apple ][ owners, says 100% got at least as far as typing programs in from magazines. More than half made programs to calculate things, about a third made their own video games. Of the total, at least half are engineering now (software, energy, communications), and the video game segment are software engineering leadership. It's not clear to me how to replicate this experience today, though I applaud games such as Human Resource Machine: https://tomorrowcorporation.com/humanresourcemachine https://tomorrowcorporation.com/humanresourcemachine More, all over the map though: https://shecancode.io/coding-games https://shecancode.io/coding-games I think there's something to be said for exposure to coding as a kind of digital literacy that should be required going forward, in a "WTF even is code anyway" sense.

TheOtherHobbes 5y ago
I suspect there's a lot of survivor bias in your informal survey. Across all brands, tens of millions of 8-bit systems were sold in the early 80s. The number of users who became engineers is maybe 10% of that - at most. I think it's impossible to reproduce that experience exactly today, because any modern attempt has to compete with many other sources of digital distraction. Minecraft and Roblox probably come closest. (And do a decent job in modern terms.) I suspect psychological, emotional, and digital content literacy - understanding how games and media manipulate beliefs and influence behaviour - is much more important than coding skill today.
- Terretta 5y ago
  Not seeing the survivor bias. It’s a sample of about a dozen, 30 years ago, all sampled again now. Different nationalities from different walks of life and backgrounds, colocated for a few years in a third world country. What I could see is a few layers of selection bias, as in, expat children of expat parents that would work in third world and buy their children computers and put them in an expat middle school.