A few reasons to get specifically kids to code: 1. You can start programming early. You probably can't (or shouldn't) do metalworking at 12 but you can program

A few reasons to get specifically kids to code: 1. You can start programming early. You probably can't (or shouldn't) do metalworking at 12 but you can program. There are few hard prerequisites. You can safely learn by trial-and-error (I'd say the crucial lesson is how to trial-and-error). 2. The "official" education path to programming is unsatisfactory to non-existant. You're much better off tinkering on your own as a teenager than waiting for CS 101 in college (or Pascal in high school if you're lucky). I have a strong belief (but no hard data) this is worse than in other industries. The cheap excuse is "programming moves too fast for educators to keep up"; I also blame CS departments for denying that CS != programming and that most of their students came for the programming, not CS. I have no doubt the above is heavily biased by my own experience. I'm factually aware some people start programming late, e.g. 30s, and quickly become very good at it; but I don't even understand how that works — it doesn't fit my model of the world. I wonder if people who start late regret it and/or feel getting kids to code is cool, or disagree completely and don't see the point...