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President Obama calls on every American to learn code

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Re: President Obama calls on every American to learn code

#21
A lot of people are getting attached to the "every American" aspect of things, and I think its important to note the distance between "knowing how to code" and "becoming a programmer." Amateur programming (for lack of a better term) like basic Python for data analysis or HTML/CSS to work on Wordpress sites (Hell, one of my friends who's a Social Media Manager learned Python to create some QoL scripts for her day-to-day routine.) is growing increasingly popular amongst recent grads.

"Whether you're a young man or a young woman -- whether you live in a city or a rural area -- computers are going to be a big part of future. And, if you're willing to work hard, that future is yours to shape."

It's hard to argue with the central message there, but we must be careful not to conflate that with the necessity of getting a CS degree. Every American should probably be able to change a tire. That doesn't mean every American should be a car mechanic.

Re: President Obama calls on every American to learn code

#22
post #4

The message is clear: top political donors want cheaper labor.

Wat.

A few months ago when someone taught a homeless man to code we congratulated him on improving another man's lot in life.

We continue to give kudos to folks like CodeAcademy for teaching people how to code free of charge and introducing more people to our industry.

But when the government does it it's a conspiracy the depress wages?

Sometimes I just... nevermind, I forget where I am.

Re: President Obama calls on every American to learn code

#23

I have to say, coding is definitely not for everyone. A rather specific kind of person (such as myself) is drawn to program computers. While I enjoy it most people I know would not. Certainly having the option to take Intro and AP CS courses (both of these are available at most public high schools) is great, but "calling on all Americans," to code seems a little excessive.

HN has this funny attitude: whenever someone is "bad at math", it's the fault of our education system and the way math is taught in schools, because everyone is clearly born with good sense of logic, however coding is for some reason such a different skill, and only a selected few (aka HN readers) can truly master it.

Re: President Obama calls on every American to learn code

#26
post #24

Obama says a few nice things about Computer Science and encourages people to learn more about the world, and HN still manages to find every possible negative angle to trash it. Impressive!

Obama said a fundamentally ignorant statement that seems even more ignorant considering all the technical problems with Obamacare. Hacker News is just pointing this out.

Re: President Obama calls on every American to learn code

#27

"When you guys are good, you should totally take a crack at healthcare.gov. That'd be awesome."

Can't they get the stuxnet guys to help with that, or even their managers who understand how to get software done? Don't tell me they don't have some overlapping skills.

Re: President Obama calls on every American to learn code

#29
post #9

Wow. Looks like Youtube comments haven't improved much after all. Seriously, it seems like half of the comments seen on Youtube (or at the bottom of any article on a news site) read as if they could have come right from a post on StormFront.

Also, conspiracy theorists. They seem to have a blast when anything related to Obama is mentioned.

Actually, conspiracy theorists don't exist. They were invented by Obama to distract us from the real issue: who killed Kennedy?

Re: President Obama calls on every American to learn code

#30

I have to say, coding is definitely not for everyone. A rather specific kind of person (such as myself) is drawn to program computers. While I enjoy it most people I know would not. Certainly having the option to take Intro and AP CS courses (both of these are available at most public high schools) is great, but "calling on all Americans," to code seems a little excessive.

We see programming as a lifestyle, a vital part of our everyday lives. The goal with hour of code is to encourage people to learn programming as a utility, not necessarily as a lifestyle.
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