6 ms·

We learn to read before we learn to write well. Why do we start out writing programs? I've always thought programming classes should start with reading and und

• GlennS 15y ago
  It's an interesting idea, but I disagree: I think you remember things much easier if you write them out (and have to make them compile/execute) yourself. If I read some code in a language I haven't encountered before, I find I don't absorb any of the little details of syntax. Moreover, I think it makes sense to expose learners to the fun of programming early. And to me that means seeing something that you wrote running.
• seabee 15y ago
  Your point seems detached from reality. You don't learn any language (native or foreign) just by reading it for months. You are instructed to use it yourself and create sentences, paragraphs, essays, and speeches. You build up your writing skills in tandem with your reading. Perhaps you don't write well until you've read a lot - but nobody expects you to write well as a novice.
• seabee 15y ago
  Your point seems detached from reality. You don't learn any language (native or foreign) just by reading it for months. You are instructed to use it yourself and create sentences, paragraphs, essays, and speeches. You build up your writing skills in tandem with your reading. Perhaps you don't write well until you've read a lot - but nobody expects you to write well as a novice.
• omaranto 15y ago
  According to my parents, at the public elementary school I went to for first grade in Toronto, Canada they taught writing before (or at least concurrently with) reading. Each kid had a diary in which we would at first draw and eventually write about something that happened each day. Kids would start with just pictures and gradually add more and more text. I don't remember any of this, but I can still read and write English even though we moved back to Mexico the following year, so I guess it worked.