Programming is a Super Power
programmingzen.com
Programming is a Super Power
1–10 of 68 posts
Re: Programming is a Super Power
#2It really isn't. Can we please stop the 'superhero' meme?
I'm not a superhero. I'm just a person who knows a few programming languages and can hack things together. It's not a great feat: it's just typing bits of logic into a computer. If you can think logically and with a reasonable degree of abstraction, you can do it too!
We should be shouting from the rooftop that it's fun and easy and giving children lessons in Python or whatever, not turning ourselves in to a priesthood just to boost our own egos.
The best sort of superheros are modest and work quietly in the background rather than shouting about how awesome they are. Can we try that?
Re: Programming is a Super Power
#3This week, I'm using my super power to replace a sign-up sheet in a clipboard that once hung on an office door. Is there any menial task I cannot defeat? I am Invincible!
Re: Programming is a Super Power
#4It really isn't. Can we please stop the 'superhero' meme? I'm not a superhero. I'm just a person who knows a few programming languages and can hack things together. It's not a great feat: it's just typing bits of logic into a computer. If you can think logically and with a reasonable degree of abstraction, you can do it too! We should be shouting from the rooftop that it's fun and easy and giving children lessons in…
I think that I may not have made my point clear. The point is not that we are superheroes for knowing how to program, but rather than learning to program is so cool that it's like having a super power, for what it enables you to build and do. If you read the article, you'll see that I mention how even "product guys" should learn how to program. In my next post, for example, I'll talk about how to learn programming as an absolute beginner. When it comes to programming I try to take a stance as far as possible from elitism.
Re: Programming is a Super Power
#5This week, I'm using my super power to replace a sign-up sheet in a clipboard that once hung on an office door. Is there any menial task I cannot defeat? I am Invincible!
clean the bathroom comes to mind and make pot of good stew is another.
Re: Programming is a Super Power
#6To paraphrase Erasmus: In the land of the blind, the one eyed man is a super-hero.
Re: Programming is a Super Power
#7It really isn't. Can we please stop the 'superhero' meme? I'm not a superhero. I'm just a person who knows a few programming languages and can hack things together. It's not a great feat: it's just typing bits of logic into a computer. If you can think logically and with a reasonable degree of abstraction, you can do it too! We should be shouting from the rooftop that it's fun and easy and giving children lessons in…
We could, but I doubt it would work. I acquired interest in programming after I realised it was a powerful skill to have. I remain interested because every so often, I am amazed at the results it can produce. While I do not believe it is actually a superpower, I think it might be productive to market it as one - one that YOU, too, could possess. I don't think the majority of kids want to be modest and work quietly in the background, but I think most kids have fantasised about being superheroes. I mean, many adults still act out superhero roles by playing RPGs.
Re: Programming is a Super Power
#8It really isn't. Can we please stop the 'superhero' meme? I'm not a superhero. I'm just a person who knows a few programming languages and can hack things together. It's not a great feat: it's just typing bits of logic into a computer. If you can think logically and with a reasonable degree of abstraction, you can do it too! We should be shouting from the rooftop that it's fun and easy and giving children lessons in…
I think that I may not have made my point clear. The point is not that we are superheroes for knowing how to program, but rather than learning to program is so cool that it's like having a super power, for what it enables you to build and do. If you read the article, you'll see that I mention how even "product guys" should learn how to program. In my next post, for example, I'll talk about how to learn programming as…
Carpentry is a Super Power. The point is not that we are superheros for knowing how to build, but rather that learning to build is so cool that its like having a super power, for what it enables you to build and do.
Re: Programming is a Super Power
#9This week, I'm using my super power to replace a sign-up sheet in a clipboard that once hung on an office door. Is there any menial task I cannot defeat? I am Invincible!
That's along the lines of what most programmers do, and each defeat is chipping away at inefficiency. You're doing your part in the greatest productivity revolution in history :)
Re: Programming is a Super Power
#10It really isn't. Can we please stop the 'superhero' meme? I'm not a superhero. I'm just a person who knows a few programming languages and can hack things together. It's not a great feat: it's just typing bits of logic into a computer. If you can think logically and with a reasonable degree of abstraction, you can do it too! We should be shouting from the rooftop that it's fun and easy and giving children lessons in…
I'll be showing this article to my high school computer science students to try to raise the excitement level among some of them.
Programming is hard enough that kids have to be pretty motivated to choose to do it. At our school, Computer Science is an elective at the High School level, and it is more difficult than many of the other courses they could take. Although most of our students think computers are cool, they also think they know all they need to know about computers without having to wrestle with the tediousness of getting the syntax right and figuring out why their programs are locking up.
I learned to program as a kid because in the late 70s, that was about the only thing you could do with a computer. I was lazy enough as a teenager that if I had an Xbox 360, iPhone, and other electronic distractions, I might not have bothered.
Now I find that I have rather deep knowledge about a technology that permeates our lives today. I would like my students to get excited enough about gaining that kind of knowledge that they will do the hard work it takes to reach such a goal. I think it could help if I put into their imaginations the idea of getting a superpower.