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I'm the only dev (or person with any IT-related responsibilities) at a workplace full of very smart people, and I've noticed this repeatedly. They see a task as

I'm the only dev (or person with any IT-related responsibilities) at a workplace full of very smart people, and I've noticed this repeatedly. They see a task as being monumental ("We have to do the same task for 3000 people/articles/etc.!") and are surprised when I point out that a computer would take just a second or two to do all of the work. These are for tasks that are obviously repetitive. This is more the kind of "literacy" that I want: the knowledge to know what is possible, even if the skills of actually accomplishing the task aren't taught. It astounds me how much time people waste because they don't know how to recognize when something is a good candidate for automation. Of course, part of it could be that some people are afraid of automating themselves out of a job...

danso 12y ago
> Of course, part of it could be that some people are afraid of automating themselves out of a job... Actually, the real tragedy is these people don't even know how much of their work is "loopable"...i.e. at risk of being replaced by automation. The way I think about teaching programming is: the goal is not to become more like a machine, but to recognize what is human, i.e. to understand what is not easily computable. And such comprehension, from my pessimistic view point, is nearly impossible to have without a level of programming literacy...and even many programmers may not stop and think about it (just as many of us who know how to read and write underappreciate the role of literacy and communication). Edit: I think the idea of automation can be scary -- and for good reason -- but mostly because the people who have the ability to institute automation (or rather, their bosses) may not be able to properly judge the consequences. However, if society as a whole better understood what automation actually is...I'd feel more confident that we could take the long view on it, and use robots and computers to lift us all up, rather than leave the non-lucky parts of society in the dust.

danso 12y ago

> Of course, part of it could be that some people are afraid of automating themselves out of a job... Actually, the real tragedy is these people don't even know how much of their work is "loopable"...i.e. at risk of being replaced by automation. The way I think about teaching programming is: the goal is not to become more like a machine, but to recognize what is human, i.e. to understand what is not easily computable. And such comprehension, from my pessimistic view point, is nearly impossible to have without a level of programming literacy...and even many programmers may not stop and think about it (just as many of us who know how to read and write underappreciate the role of literacy and communication). Edit: I think the idea of automation can be scary -- and for good reason -- but mostly because the people who have the ability to institute automation (or rather, their bosses) may not be able to properly judge the consequences. However, if society as a whole better understood what automation actually is...I'd feel more confident that we could take the long view on it, and use robots and computers to lift us all up, rather than leave the non-lucky parts of society in the dust.