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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

#281

Post by walshemj »

hga wrote: post #93
JonFish85 wrote: post #59

While I agree that it's a great mental exercise to learn how to code (and to learn the mindset that goes along with it), isn't it much more important for every American to learn how to budget? To learn how to save money? To me, those are things that are far more important to the country as a whole than understanding even basic scripting. As a quick example, the meaning of "afford" has changed in the last 2 generation…

Isn't that a rather ... subversive concept when a good fraction of those learning it will then apply it to the Federal budget, their state's budget and on down?

The trouble is that a simple house hold budget is very very different to that of a sovereign state.

This simplistic approach leads some (some might say most) politicians to sell dubious policies by folksy appeal to peoples perceived knowledge when in fact they are guilty of "Unconscious incompetence"

Re: President Obama calls on every American to learn code

#282

Post by jblow »

jmduke wrote: post #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-d…

I am 42 years old and I have never had to change a tire, not once.

Re: President Obama calls on every American to learn code

#283

Post by walshemj »

wes-exp wrote: post #150

It's easy to point to the feel-good topic of education and cry foul when anyone is against it. But here is the reality. America already overproduces scientists and engineers. The whole notion of talent shortages is generally hot air from special interests (in this case, tech companies) who want a cheaper supply of labor and cannot bear the idea that skilled engineers actually cost a lot. A lot of effort is put into t…

But that system rigidly streamed kids at an early age and until recently once on the apprenticeship track it limited your progression.

Re: President Obama calls on every American to learn code

#285

Post by walshemj »

VLM wrote: post #128
kunai wrote: post #19

Call me a cynic, but I'm really indifferent to this entire "everyone should learn to code" nonsense. There are so many mistruths that Code.org is spreading that it's shameful. Let's get down to the biggest one: that with a "little bit of math and science" you can build the latest video game or write an app. Buzzer #1. It doesn't take just "a little bit" of math. It takes a TON of math. Reading CLRS took me a month to…

"Only that nobody in their right minds would tell people to make mechanical engineering a part of the curriculum" At the elementary school level, my kids attend a psuedo-STEM school and sadly you're not too far off the mark. Its pretty much that and civil. Civil is actually a good one for kids. Give them a beach and some water buckets and shovels and they're happy for days if not weeks. Some clay and dirt works even…

Do US schools not have "shop" class that teaches this I certainly did wood and metalwork and technical drawing at my UK school.

Re: President Obama calls on every American to learn code

#286

Post by tomphoolery »

grellas wrote: post #217

Speaking as a non-coder, but as one who did minimal things with programming-like higher-level stuff ranging from the old DOS batch files to VBA and some dabbling with SQL, I am curious whether real engineers believe the idea of broad literacy in coding truly would be valuable and, if so, how exactly. I am not speaking as a skeptic, just as one who does not readily see the point and wants to know. Of course, we are in…

I think he did preface "anyone can learn how to code" with the phrase "...with some hard work and a little math & science understanding".

I do believe that broad literacy in programming would be beneficial. Going beyond my obviously biased opinion that programming helps you understand your world better, I believe that broad literacy in programming will advance our technology faster and bring us further than we could have ever imagined, because we'll have more people per capita who are able to maintain and understand the way our increasingly-complex world works.

The fact that not everyone who wants to be a programmer actually sticks with it enough to become one is also a good thing. It's certainly not for everyone. But there are plenty of people, especially kids, who might find this kind of stuff interesting, but aren't being exposed to it enough for it to be a reality.

Re: President Obama calls on every American to learn code

#288

Post by cm127 »

grellas wrote: post #217

Speaking as a non-coder, but as one who did minimal things with programming-like higher-level stuff ranging from the old DOS batch files to VBA and some dabbling with SQL, I am curious whether real engineers believe the idea of broad literacy in coding truly would be valuable and, if so, how exactly. I am not speaking as a skeptic, just as one who does not readily see the point and wants to know. Of course, we are in…

Code can be simple or complex just like writing. Last night my girlfriend was using a WYSIWYG editor for WordPress and getting very frustrated. I suggested using the HTML editor, and she was blown away at how much easier to make simple changes.

Re: President Obama calls on every American to learn code

#289

Post by thenerdfiles »

He just divided America... How will all the Americans respond who thought guns were the answer around and after WWII?

He doesn't say "every American" — what the hell ? He specifically says "young Americans like you".

And that CERTAINLY does NOT warrant the question "should everyone know how to code"?

If the youth learns to code, the next generation will benefit from this, likely not needing to touch code at all. There's no such thing as "every American". That is totally, utterly, absolutely, invariably not the point. He's talking about the youth — he's calling a DRAFT.

Re: President Obama calls on every American to learn code

#290

Post by coryrc »

grellas wrote: post #217

Speaking as a non-coder, but as one who did minimal things with programming-like higher-level stuff ranging from the old DOS batch files to VBA and some dabbling with SQL, I am curious whether real engineers believe the idea of broad literacy in coding truly would be valuable and, if so, how exactly. I am not speaking as a skeptic, just as one who does not readily see the point and wants to know. Of course, we are in…

So many people live in bubble with no connection to the real world; insulated by religious dogma and partisan ignorance. Debating need not concern with actual provable, reliable facts, but soundbites and appeals to authority. But you can't fool the computer. You can beg and plead, you can say your teacher tells you that it should work, but ultimately you can't make it work unless you actually do.

You can fake your chemistry results, you can argue over the oxford comma, but your loop for(i=1;i<10;++i){} will never run 10 times.

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