Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, and Lately, Coding
1–10 of 33 posts
Re: Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, and Lately, Coding
#2We've said it before. We will say it again:
Programming is the new literacy for the 21st Century.
Charlemagne was the first and only illiterate Holy Roman Emperor. This current generation of business and political leaders are the only generation that can remain software illiterate.
No, We wont expect Fortune 500 leaders to do production coding but we don't expect the Managing Editor of a newspaper to write articles either - but they must be literate as well as everything else expected.
Re: Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, and Lately, Coding
#3We've said it before. We will say it again: Programming is the new literacy for the 21st Century. Charlemagne was the first and only illiterate Holy Roman Emperor. This current generation of business and political leaders are the only generation that can remain software illiterate. No, We wont expect Fortune 500 leaders to do production coding but we don't expect the Managing Editor of a newspaper to write articles e…
Agreed. People think of the application of software and automation to every facet of our lives as an industry (tech) when really it is a new industrial revolution. We're undergoing a major shift in how people will work in the future.
"I'm not good with computers" will be the 21st century equivalent of "I can't read good"
Re: Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, and Lately, Coding
#4We've said it before. We will say it again: Programming is the new literacy for the 21st Century. Charlemagne was the first and only illiterate Holy Roman Emperor. This current generation of business and political leaders are the only generation that can remain software illiterate. No, We wont expect Fortune 500 leaders to do production coding but we don't expect the Managing Editor of a newspaper to write articles e…
can you explain why? i think as we progress most things will "just work" and coding will become easier and more fluid meaning even less people need to know how to code.
Re: Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, and Lately, Coding
#5We've said it before. We will say it again: Programming is the new literacy for the 21st Century. Charlemagne was the first and only illiterate Holy Roman Emperor. This current generation of business and political leaders are the only generation that can remain software illiterate. No, We wont expect Fortune 500 leaders to do production coding but we don't expect the Managing Editor of a newspaper to write articles e…
Agreed. People think of the application of software and automation to every facet of our lives as an industry (tech) when really it is a new industrial revolution. We're undergoing a major shift in how people will work in the future. "I'm not good with computers" will be the 21st century equivalent of "I can't read good"
Or, "I'm not good with computers" will be the 21st equivalent of "I'm not good at math". Meaning LOADS of employed people will be saying it.
The real benefit of programming for non-programmers is being able to break large problems into small, solvable ones, and logically assemble those small solutions into various larger ones (even outside of the original problem; code reuse, as it were). This is a skill you can learn a myriad of ways, but computing is perhaps the first time we've had a mechanism by which you can directly practice it in a non-contrived, endlessly extensible manner.
Re: Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, and Lately, Coding
#6Agree with the premise but the article lost me at " that might someday lead to.... instant riches."
Re: Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, and Lately, Coding
#7Ultimately it all comes to cybernetics. Understanding how systems work, understanding how to change systems, and how to design new systems.
Not about programming itself.
We were designing systems for millennia before computers existed. All the basic algorithms we use in programming today were invented before computers.
Computers just happen to make systems a lot more reliable, performant and scalable (if designed right), since computers have evolved to complement us (i.e. we're bad at what computers are good at and vice versa).
I don't think programming is the new literacy, I think understanding the common principles that tie system behavior together has always been the highest form of skill for any human to possess.
As for turning a system design into code, if you know how to design the system on a higher level, you can always delegate the "boring" act of coding itself.
I'm a programmer, but I understand that the act of programming by itself, even though I find it enjoyable, isn't that interesting on its own. It's only interesting in terms of how the program I'm writing connects to a system where the real world and real people are involved. All programs, with no exception, either interface directly with people, or interface with other programs that do interface with people.
Currently we conflate programming with the act of designing systems (algorithms, design patterns etc.), but I expect sooner or later system design and programming will split into separate "trades". Would it be a resurgence of cybernetics, or a brand new branch of science, I don't know.
But it'll happen. And it'll be good, because many programmers use computers as their golden hammer of system design, and it's hardly the only component of a good system.
Re: Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, and Lately, Coding
#8As essential as computational literacy has become, I feel a bit uneasy here.
Take mathematics for instance. What students learn in school is important, yes, but it causes a hatred toward math in general. In a typical high school, 90% of kids dread Algebra, Geometry, and PreCalc. These classes are miserable to them, and consequentially, they associate mathematics with their aversion from imposed education. Because of this, the wonderful world of numbers is reduced to mere repetition.
For those who appreciate the beauty in mathematics, this must be depressing.
I'm afraid that CS may have a similar downfall if we mandate programming curricula. Maybe a more subtle approach is necessary.
Re: Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, and Lately, Coding
#9We've said it before. We will say it again: Programming is the new literacy for the 21st Century. Charlemagne was the first and only illiterate Holy Roman Emperor. This current generation of business and political leaders are the only generation that can remain software illiterate. No, We wont expect Fortune 500 leaders to do production coding but we don't expect the Managing Editor of a newspaper to write articles e…
Disagree. What we call coding today will have virtually nothing in common with what they call coding, if they do at all, at the end of the 21st century.
Just look at tools like Parse or Visual Studio Code Search. The future is going to be very, very different from the present.
Re: Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, and Lately, Coding
#10As essential as computational literacy has become, I feel a bit uneasy here. Take mathematics for instance. What students learn in school is important, yes, but it causes a hatred toward math in general. In a typical high school, 90% of kids dread Algebra, Geometry, and PreCalc. These classes are miserable to them, and consequentially, they associate mathematics with their aversion from imposed education. Because of…
There should be a nonacademic track in math education, starting around 8,9, or 10th grade.
It would focus on things like demystifying probability and balancing check books and other things that sort of fall under numeracy.
I realize lots of people will like to complain that those aren't topics for school, but the current program in the U.S. is anyway watering down the academic track. People that have not yet seen any beauty in math would get much more value from practical lessons designed to mostly be engaging than they get from suffering through abstract math that is mostly designed to be foundational.