The OP is confusing 'learning' with 'making'. Have a good read of this linguistic relativity summary on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic_rela

The OP is confusing 'learning' with 'making'. Have a good read of this linguistic relativity summary on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic_relativity http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic_relativity). The short version is: The concepts you have affect the way you think, and that affects the way you behave. We're not trying to get everyone to build software. That's a stupid idea. Most people don't need to; sure, it's cool that you could do a macro or something if you wanted to, but it's probably irrelevant to most people. Even with modern high-level frameworks, it's a titanic effort to do anything practical with programming. ...but the point is, logical flow, breaking down ideas into units, inter-changable implementations of anything that matching a common interface, understanding how a 'source' document can be converted into an 'executable' object that makes computers do things, creating a virtual 'model' of a real situation and simulating it.... These are powerful ideas, that can't simply be grasped by telling someone about them abstractly. You have to learn the symbols and incorporate them into your own mental model. More than that, they're tangible ideas that extend far beyond the bounds of computers and into other domains, helping people organize and breakdown problems. The point is, you should learn to code. ...maybe you'll never actually write a real program that you'll use to do things, but that doesn't matter. By learning how to do it, you're gaining a mental richness. Failure to appreciate that, from an educator appalls me.