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> Code literacy is important, not so that the average person can become a 10X engineer but so that they can understand what's happening in the world around them

> Code literacy is important, not so that the average person can become a 10X engineer but so that they can understand what's happening in the world around them on another level. It's the same reason that people should learn physics or chemistry or biology I disagree. None of that requires code and I don't think people need to know code any more than they need to know how a circuit board works or the inner workings of their internal combustion engine or microwave. What people do need, however, are broadly-applicable critical thinking skills and a basic introduction to logic. Those skills can be applied to physics, chemistry, biology, ticket booking, car problems, oven problems, anything.

blazespin 12y ago
This is important for the American economy and for the inner city culture that Obama is always trying to reshape. Coders will rule the future global economy. Therefore code literacy IS important and as a role model to a culture that has been unjustly shackled, what he did is important. As for pandering, no, it was symbolic and the presidency is all about the power of symbolism.
- sdrothrock 12y ago
  > This is important for the American economy and for the inner city culture that Obama is always trying to reshape. I 100% agree with this. This was a great way to set an example. > Coders will rule the future global economy. I completely disagree with this and haven't seen any evidence. You could say the same about engineers or doctors or any other skilled profession that deals things that affect people in a similarly pervasive fashion. None of them "rule the future global economy." > As for pandering, no, it was symbolic and the presidency is all about the power of symbolism. I'm not sure where this came from since I never talked about pandering.
  - xiphias 12y ago
    Just look at Bitcoin, Ethereum, Counterparty and all the related startups around the cryptocurrency economy..decentralized EBays, currencies, stock exchanges, derivatives will rule the world economy in 6-20 years (not even talking here about the AI & medical revolution).
    - chriswarbo 12y ago
      Politicians, old money and the most sociopathic CEOs will rule the world economy, just like they did last century (these categories are not mutually exclusive). Technology doesn't matter at the top; it's just another mechanism for screwing over adversaries. Some of today's behemoths will fall, but more will come out of the shadows to replace them.
    - dagw 12y ago
      Coders might build the future global economy, but I see no evidence that they'll rule it.
- Amezarak 12y ago
  > Coders will rule the future global economy. When everyone knows how to code and coders rule the future global economy, coders will have the prestige and salary of a cashier or a waiter.
danieldk 12y ago
and I don't think people need to know code any more than they need to know how a circuit board works I work in computational linguistics, and it is often aggravating to see linguists doing hours of manual work on data that could be done using a five-liner. E.g. my wife is a neurolinguist, and she was manually doing mechanical transformation of some EEG data, which was going to take her two days. I wrote a small Python script on the spot in a couple of minutes that did the same work. That convinced her to learn some Ruby. Afterwards, she has saved a lot of time by writing small data transformation scripts for her research and that of some colleagues. The problem is that a lot of people don't even know that it is relatively simple to pick up enough scripting skills to make your life easier. So, I think it definitely makes sense to add some coding to high school curricula, so that people at least know, when applicable, that basic scripting is not hard and where to start.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
  - DieBuche 12y ago
    Your third sentence seems to be missing a not
  - moron4hire 12y ago
    The entire point of a well-rounded education is that you never know when you're going to need it. Just because you can't imagine it, doesn't mean it's not necessary. Why not teach everyone a little programming? "It won't serve them" is not a good enough reason.
- hanley 12y ago
  > I wrote a small Python script on the spot in a couple of minutes that did the same work... That convinced her to learn some Ruby. Why didn't that convince her to learn Python? Especially since she could eventually use SciPy, NumPy, etc.
- vegedor 12y ago
  But the president is hardly a neurolinguist. To get any real profit out of coding and scripting, a lot of training is necessary in the first place, so that for a lot of domains the effective benefit remains debatable.

blazespin 12y ago

This is important for the American economy and for the inner city culture that Obama is always trying to reshape. Coders will rule the future global economy. Therefore code literacy IS important and as a role model to a culture that has been unjustly shackled, what he did is important. As for pandering, no, it was symbolic and the presidency is all about the power of symbolism.

sdrothrock 12y ago
> This is important for the American economy and for the inner city culture that Obama is always trying to reshape. I 100% agree with this. This was a great way to set an example. > Coders will rule the future global economy. I completely disagree with this and haven't seen any evidence. You could say the same about engineers or doctors or any other skilled profession that deals things that affect people in a similarly pervasive fashion. None of them "rule the future global economy." > As for pandering, no, it was symbolic and the presidency is all about the power of symbolism. I'm not sure where this came from since I never talked about pandering.
- xiphias 12y ago
  Just look at Bitcoin, Ethereum, Counterparty and all the related startups around the cryptocurrency economy..decentralized EBays, currencies, stock exchanges, derivatives will rule the world economy in 6-20 years (not even talking here about the AI & medical revolution).
  - chriswarbo 12y ago
    Politicians, old money and the most sociopathic CEOs will rule the world economy, just like they did last century (these categories are not mutually exclusive). Technology doesn't matter at the top; it's just another mechanism for screwing over adversaries. Some of today's behemoths will fall, but more will come out of the shadows to replace them.
  - dagw 12y ago
    Coders might build the future global economy, but I see no evidence that they'll rule it.
Amezarak 12y ago
> Coders will rule the future global economy. When everyone knows how to code and coders rule the future global economy, coders will have the prestige and salary of a cashier or a waiter.

danieldk 12y ago

and I don't think people need to know code any more than they need to know how a circuit board works I work in computational linguistics, and it is often aggravating to see linguists doing hours of manual work on data that could be done using a five-liner. E.g. my wife is a neurolinguist, and she was manually doing mechanical transformation of some EEG data, which was going to take her two days. I wrote a small Python script on the spot in a couple of minutes that did the same work. That convinced her to learn some Ruby. Afterwards, she has saved a lot of time by writing small data transformation scripts for her research and that of some colleagues. The problem is that a lot of people don't even know that it is relatively simple to pick up enough scripting skills to make your life easier. So, I think it definitely makes sense to add some coding to high school curricula, so that people at least know, when applicable, that basic scripting is not hard and where to start.

deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
- DieBuche 12y ago
  Your third sentence seems to be missing a not
- moron4hire 12y ago
  The entire point of a well-rounded education is that you never know when you're going to need it. Just because you can't imagine it, doesn't mean it's not necessary. Why not teach everyone a little programming? "It won't serve them" is not a good enough reason.
hanley 12y ago
> I wrote a small Python script on the spot in a couple of minutes that did the same work... That convinced her to learn some Ruby. Why didn't that convince her to learn Python? Especially since she could eventually use SciPy, NumPy, etc.
vegedor 12y ago
But the president is hardly a neurolinguist. To get any real profit out of coding and scripting, a lot of training is necessary in the first place, so that for a lot of domains the effective benefit remains debatable.