4 ms·

Once everyone can read and write, then what? We live in a computer age. Knowing how to program is no longer a "specialized skill", it's mandatory (on some leve

Once everyone can read and write, then what? We live in a computer age. Knowing how to program is no longer a "specialized skill", it's mandatory (on some level) to effectively interact with ever more complex systems that run our lives.

JustSomeNobody 11y ago
Yeah, no. Those things are not the same thing. Try again.
a3voices 11y ago
Mandatory in what sense? Most people get by without having to code anything more complex than an Excel formula.
- chadgeidel 11y ago
  In my opinion "programming" should be generalized to "instructing the computer to do a series of tasks", or "applying the output of one system into the next system". I don't think that's overgeneralizing.
  - JustSomeNobody 11y ago
    Let's not redefine words. What you're suggesting "programming" be generalized to already has a definition, "Computer Literacy".
- joedavison 11y ago
  "Most people" cannot code an Excel formula.
danso 11y ago
Thanks for providing my reflexive comeback...Programming, to me, is as expressive and essential as reading and writing, and those who think all the coding problems/jobs are going to end when everyone learns programming...I just don't understand what they perceive to be the scope of programming. I think people are too hung up on how programming seems to be newly ushered in by technology, despite its theoretical origins more than a century ago (very conservatively speaking). Well, writing and reading existed long before Gutenberg...but before he made mass media possible, it would have been very reasonable to argue that writing and reading were not essential to being productive members of society.
thegeomaster 11y ago
Right, but there is a difference between everyone needing to learn to read and write in order to communicate by written word, sign documents etc. and everyone needing to learn to write sufficiently good to write a novel. As I see it, it's the same with computers and coding. Everyone should be able to operate a computer (or smartphone, tablet, whatever) and do tasks efficiently on it, but not everyone should be required to learn the intricacies of their computer in order to program it. Some people aren't interested in that, and that's completely fine, just as some people aren't interested in learning to write a novel. I personally don't agree with the sentiment that 'coding is the new literacy'. Yes, it's the digital age and all that, and coding can help you solve some specific problems, but for 99% of the problems that 99% non-programmers encounter, someone has already written a piece of software that will solve it way better than they could have done themselves. When people learned how to read and write, they were suddenly able to communicate by letters, take notes, read books, etc., and a whole new world opened for them. As for computers, well, that new world opened when people learned how to operate a computer and use it for various tasks, not when they learned to code. I see a much narrower use out of coding literacy for the average person who doesn't care much about programming or computers in general.
- chadgeidel 11y ago
  Thanks for the well-reasoned opinion. I do think that "learning to direct a computer to do a task" is something that people should know how to do. I'm not talking Java/Python/whatever, I'm talking more about cookbook-style recipes to "get data from here, transform it, and apply it over here".

JustSomeNobody 11y ago

Yeah, no. Those things are not the same thing. Try again.

a3voices 11y ago

Mandatory in what sense? Most people get by without having to code anything more complex than an Excel formula.

chadgeidel 11y ago
In my opinion "programming" should be generalized to "instructing the computer to do a series of tasks", or "applying the output of one system into the next system". I don't think that's overgeneralizing.
- JustSomeNobody 11y ago
  Let's not redefine words. What you're suggesting "programming" be generalized to already has a definition, "Computer Literacy".
joedavison 11y ago
"Most people" cannot code an Excel formula.

danso 11y ago

Thanks for providing my reflexive comeback...Programming, to me, is as expressive and essential as reading and writing, and those who think all the coding problems/jobs are going to end when everyone learns programming...I just don't understand what they perceive to be the scope of programming. I think people are too hung up on how programming seems to be newly ushered in by technology, despite its theoretical origins more than a century ago (very conservatively speaking). Well, writing and reading existed long before Gutenberg...but before he made mass media possible, it would have been very reasonable to argue that writing and reading were not essential to being productive members of society.

thegeomaster 11y ago

Right, but there is a difference between everyone needing to learn to read and write in order to communicate by written word, sign documents etc. and everyone needing to learn to write sufficiently good to write a novel. As I see it, it's the same with computers and coding. Everyone should be able to operate a computer (or smartphone, tablet, whatever) and do tasks efficiently on it, but not everyone should be required to learn the intricacies of their computer in order to program it. Some people aren't interested in that, and that's completely fine, just as some people aren't interested in learning to write a novel. I personally don't agree with the sentiment that 'coding is the new literacy'. Yes, it's the digital age and all that, and coding can help you solve some specific problems, but for 99% of the problems that 99% non-programmers encounter, someone has already written a piece of software that will solve it way better than they could have done themselves. When people learned how to read and write, they were suddenly able to communicate by letters, take notes, read books, etc., and a whole new world opened for them. As for computers, well, that new world opened when people learned how to operate a computer and use it for various tasks, not when they learned to code. I see a much narrower use out of coding literacy for the average person who doesn't care much about programming or computers in general.

chadgeidel 11y ago
Thanks for the well-reasoned opinion. I do think that "learning to direct a computer to do a task" is something that people should know how to do. I'm not talking Java/Python/whatever, I'm talking more about cookbook-style recipes to "get data from here, transform it, and apply it over here".