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What would be the utility in doing this other than increasing the number of "coders"? I would make the argument that there are other, more practically applicab

What would be the utility in doing this other than increasing the number of "coders"? I would make the argument that there are other, more practically applicable areas of study that would benefit the general population. Basic physics or even basic anatomy and physiology comes to mind.

jpendry 15y ago
let's say an end user of your app is having a problem getting it to work. would you rather that end user be a developer, or someone that doesn't know anything about development?
InclinedPlane 15y ago
What is the utility of teaching people arithmetic other than increasing the number of "mathematicians"? This highlights an important aspect of the immaturity of software development, we lack the terms to even talk about it with very much detail. We don't put everyone who knows any amount of math in the same bucket, we don't even put people who know vector calculus and differential equations in the same bucket, we appreciate that there are many grdations of skill and differences between people who know a thing to some level of competence and people who use that knowledge intently in their occupation. The same is true with programming. Just because someone knows the basics of programming doesn't mean they are a software engineer. It doesn't mean they are capable of building or working on large, sophisticated systems. It doesn't mean that they necessarily must take up programming as an occupation either. Similarly, taking a wood shop class or learning basics of automotive maintenance doesn't make one a carpenter or a mechanic. But that doesn't make those skills useles either.
- misterbwong 15y ago
  Yes, there is some utility in teaching the general population a skill but I don't believe that coding is the skill. Don't get me wrong, it would make the jobs of those in technology a bit easier. But I think that there are better uses of resources.
Dn_Ab 15y ago
One utility would be that software would be a lot less brittle and a lot more flexible since you would know that a significantly greater than 0% of your audience could use the sandboxed non turing complete language that allows intelligent communication of triggers to the application. Another benefit would be limiting the space a user places on the possible actions of your program. By expecting less magical behaviour and constraints based on knowledge of basic limits of software; actions will be more robust, limitations more likely to be intelligently worked around till a fix is had and feedback may even be more meaningful and suggestive.
rokhayakebe 15y ago
I couldn't have said it better than InclinedPlane.
Sniffnoy 15y ago
I'm pessimistic that it would actually work, but I'd like to think it would teach people to think precisely.

jpendry 15y ago

let's say an end user of your app is having a problem getting it to work. would you rather that end user be a developer, or someone that doesn't know anything about development?

InclinedPlane 15y ago

What is the utility of teaching people arithmetic other than increasing the number of "mathematicians"? This highlights an important aspect of the immaturity of software development, we lack the terms to even talk about it with very much detail. We don't put everyone who knows any amount of math in the same bucket, we don't even put people who know vector calculus and differential equations in the same bucket, we appreciate that there are many grdations of skill and differences between people who know a thing to some level of competence and people who use that knowledge intently in their occupation. The same is true with programming. Just because someone knows the basics of programming doesn't mean they are a software engineer. It doesn't mean they are capable of building or working on large, sophisticated systems. It doesn't mean that they necessarily must take up programming as an occupation either. Similarly, taking a wood shop class or learning basics of automotive maintenance doesn't make one a carpenter or a mechanic. But that doesn't make those skills useles either.

misterbwong 15y ago
Yes, there is some utility in teaching the general population a skill but I don't believe that coding is the skill. Don't get me wrong, it would make the jobs of those in technology a bit easier. But I think that there are better uses of resources.

Dn_Ab 15y ago

One utility would be that software would be a lot less brittle and a lot more flexible since you would know that a significantly greater than 0% of your audience could use the sandboxed non turing complete language that allows intelligent communication of triggers to the application. Another benefit would be limiting the space a user places on the possible actions of your program. By expecting less magical behaviour and constraints based on knowledge of basic limits of software; actions will be more robust, limitations more likely to be intelligently worked around till a fix is had and feedback may even be more meaningful and suggestive.

rokhayakebe 15y ago

I couldn't have said it better than InclinedPlane.

Sniffnoy 15y ago

I'm pessimistic that it would actually work, but I'd like to think it would teach people to think precisely.