Perhaps learning to code shouldn't be required for the general populace, but maybe it should be in higher education, perhaps just for a scientific degree?
Everybody does not need to learn to code.
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Re: Everybody does not need to learn to code.
#22Of course not. And everyone doesn't need to learn how to drive. Or speak Spanish. Or cook for themselves. Or balance credits and debits. But people who can do any of the above proficiently have many doors and options open to them that others don't. And those who can do it at least a little bit can at least have some awareness for when they hire someone to do it for them.
most people can learn to drive, learn another language and learn to cook. a much smaller number of people can learn to code competently.
Trust me, I don't cook competently, but I live alone and can get food done when needed. We don't all have to be professionals at something but we need to understand it especially when our lives depend on it. Take medicine for example, I'm also not a doctor but that didn't stop my school from forcing me to learn biology (which I loved btw) and I think we should all know things about the world when we deal with them on a daily basis. I also didn't major in electronics but I still know better than showering and cleaning the innards on the hair dryer with water while it is plugged in.
It is the mentality of imperative knowledge that should be considered when talking about teaching programming. Not the idea that all people should know how to compile Linux.
Re: Everybody does not need to learn to code.
#23Of course not. And everyone doesn't need to learn how to drive. Or speak Spanish. Or cook for themselves. Or balance credits and debits. But people who can do any of the above proficiently have many doors and options open to them that others don't. And those who can do it at least a little bit can at least have some awareness for when they hire someone to do it for them.
most people can learn to drive, learn another language and learn to cook. a much smaller number of people can learn to code competently.
Only a small number of people might be coding competently currently, but that doesn't mean only a small number CAN.
There is nothing special about programming; like learning a language, it is very possible to become competent, and anybody who is not mentally delayed can do so - it just takes effort. If you can code competently well done, but don't think yourself special.
Re: Everybody does not need to learn to code.
#24Programming is problem solving. Fine, don't learn how to code, but how about learning how to solve problems? And learning how to code is certainly something that can assist in learning how to problem solve.
Re: Everybody does not need to learn to code.
#25I'm more in favor of everyone learning CS theory (primarily logic really and anything else would just be icing on the cake), which would be a more transferable and honestly useful skill.
As it is, the most states try to bake learning how to write formal logic proofs into geometry and they do it fairly poorly.
Re: Everybody does not need to learn to code.
#26Every student should have, at least, exposure to coding and the opportunity to learn it. This has not been the case in my lifetime. In middle school, a special instructor was brought in to teach programming to the GATE kids. She decided she could only handle one student. So out of the entire class, only one kid was exposed to programming in school When it was time to enter high school, there were two public schools i…
Sorry, I don't intend to cast aspersions on your upbringing, but why does class availability matter at all to this discussion? Myself, and everyone in the small group of middle school kids at my school who were interested, learned programming from books. Our school was extraordinarily poor, so the whole notion of CS classes was laughable.
Re: Everybody does not need to learn to code.
#27Every student should have, at least, exposure to coding and the opportunity to learn it. This has not been the case in my lifetime. In middle school, a special instructor was brought in to teach programming to the GATE kids. She decided she could only handle one student. So out of the entire class, only one kid was exposed to programming in school When it was time to enter high school, there were two public schools i…
My experience was that by the time I found someone that actually taught something "computer", I already knew more than they did. This was the rule until I was about halfway through college.
Re: Everybody does not need to learn to code.
#28Maybe not domain[1] specific languages, but recursive logic is cleansing for the mind.
[1] if by 'learning to code' they mean 'call a few ad-hoc libraries to process and format strings into concrete syntax' then I'd say it's domain specific and it's useless outside the current trend.
Re: Everybody does not need to learn to code.
#29From a practical standpoint, I really wish everyone was taught enough programming to know how to automate basic manipulation of text data. I see way too many people editing long lists of data by hand, when there are much better ways to go about it (even Excel works great for this kind of stuff).
Just knowing this setup below can let you do some really power automation of manual tasks and can save you a lot of time.
Example template in Python:
import csv
with open('mydata.csv', 'r') as csvfile:
reader = csv.reader(csvfile, delimiter=',', quotechar='"')
for row in reader:
# Data manipulation hereRe: Everybody does not need to learn to code.
#30Disagree. Everyone needs to learn to code. I was taught long division as a child. Didn't like it; who does? Nor do I use it. But... When I was 15, I finally got a chance to study programming. One of the first things our professor showed us, was how to do string-based long division, with a computer. The enlightenment was profound. Why was I doing this, when everyone else was learning to symbolically find quadratic roo…
Let me elaborate. Anyone who has participated in the math education of a child, or remembers being one, has heard the compliant "But I'm just going to use a calculator! Why do I have to learn this!" Currently, the answer is "if you want to get into college / learn more advanced things, you have to learn to do this, all by hand." The answer should be "Well, if you want to get into college, you're going to have to lear…
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