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Why I Desperately Needed to Learn to Code

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Re: Why I Desperately Needed to Learn to Code

#11

Post by tsurantino »

kiba wrote: post #7
nirvana wrote: post #2

Radical notion: Some people should learn to code. Some shouldn't. Not everyone should be a programmer. Some people need to program even though they are bad programmers (e.g.: a business guy stringing together off the shelf services with a little bit of glue code to make an MVP to attract an engineer cofounder.) If you have the internal drive to be a programmer- great, be one. If the idea repulses you, then do somethi…

I think we should incorporate programming into mathematic classes starting with the earliest grade possible. The way people are taught mathematics is mostly useless. It's a bunch of equation and calculation that people are doing by hand . Nobody is trying to identify problems, break them down, make hypothesis, and so on. With programming, we could take the usefulness of mathematics to a whole new level by breaking th…

I don't think that it should necessarily be the case. Part of the reason why mathematics & sciences are taught by hand is to demonstrate the process and confront the complexity at hand. "Nobody is trying to identify problems, break them down, make hypothesis, and so on." This is not necessarily true. Sure, after you are first shown the problem you then trudge through multiple calculations and variations of the problem, but the purpose of this isn't to grind it out and memorize it, but to reinforce the process and underlying parts to solving the problem.

There's kind of a reason why at some point we teach certain elements of programming by hand too.

Maybe I'm reducing your question but I think it's important to note the intrinsic value of teaching by hand vs. always incorporating automation by programming.

Re: Why I Desperately Needed to Learn to Code

#12

Post by tweiss »

This should be a mandatory read for every business guy who wants to run his or her own start-up. I wish I could have read this post three years ago. I still look back in horror on how I interacted with coders or with my technical co-founder before I started to learn to code myself.

I guess the bottom line to the whole discussion started by Jeff is: Not everyone should become a coder, not everyone can become a (good) coder, and not everyone wants to become a coder. But if you really feel like learning to code is the only way not to get left behind in this rapidly changing world (vs just doing it becomes everybody thinks it's cool nowadays), go for it!

Re: Why I Desperately Needed to Learn to Code

#14

Post by kiba »

tsurantino wrote: post #11
kiba wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think we should incorporate programming into mathematic classes starting with the earliest grade possible. The way people are taught mathematics is mostly useless. It's a bunch of equation and calculation that people are doing by hand . Nobody is trying to identify problems, break them down, make hypothesis, and so on. With programming, we could take the usefulness of mathematics to a whole new level by breaking th…

I don't think that it should necessarily be the case. Part of the reason why mathematics & sciences are taught by hand is to demonstrate the process and confront the complexity at hand. "Nobody is trying to identify problems, break them down, make hypothesis, and so on." This is not necessarily true. Sure, after you are first shown the problem you then trudge through multiple calculations and variations of the proble…

Part of the reason why mathematics & sciences are taught by hand is to demonstrate the process and confront the complexity at hand.

So what? Programmers deal with lot of complexity all the time.

This is not necessarily true. Sure, after you are first shown the problem you then trudge through multiple calculations and variations of the problem, but the purpose of this isn't to grind it out and memorize it, but to reinforce the process and underlying parts to solving the problem.

All you have to do is recognize the problem and apply the calculation to derive an answer. The calculation will also be particularly tedious. Does that sounds like "reinforcing the process" to you? It's all busywork that can be done by machines.

There's kind of a reason why at some point we teach certain elements of programming by hand too.

I was never taught that way, or rather, I taught myself. I learn a few basic concepts and apply it to projects. I also learn how to use tools like debuggers that help make me figure out things a lot easier.

Maybe I'm reducing your question but I think it's important to note the intrinsic value of teaching by hand vs. always incorporating automation by programming.

There's a big difference between teaching some mathematical concept by hand and forcing students to calculate by hand everytime they confront a problem. They should be able to program a solution to the problem and then move on to the next problem.

Re: Why I Desperately Needed to Learn to Code

#15

Post by garindra »

sneak wrote: post #13

Just me, or is Svbtle's "kudos" widget absolutely balls-to-the-wall counterintuitive? I gave "kudos" earlier by accident...

I didn't notice it before I saw your comment; I then tried it, and as a result, gave the "kudo" by accident too. This is a great example of beauty/fanciness != good user experience. There's no way to "unkudo" either, sigh..

Re: Why I Desperately Needed to Learn to Code

#16

Post by reilly3000 »

Agreed. Marketing dude here (who uses mixrank btw) that learned to hack a little bit. Good for my life, and good for talking to programmers about programming. I'm not a programmer, but I think my life is better for having hacked some things together. It has certainly helped me appreciate the challenges of developing great software.

Re: Why I Desperately Needed to Learn to Code

#18

Post by CognitiveLens »

garindra wrote: post #15
sneak wrote: post #13

Just me, or is Svbtle's "kudos" widget absolutely balls-to-the-wall counterintuitive? I gave "kudos" earlier by accident...

I didn't notice it before I saw your comment; I then tried it, and as a result, gave the "kudo" by accident too. This is a great example of beauty/fanciness != good user experience. There's no way to "unkudo" either, sigh..

I did the same thing, got momentarily distressed, then realized it means absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of things and smiled at a playful little implementation of a voting widget.

This is the show where everything is made up and the points don't matter.

Re: Why I Desperately Needed to Learn to Code

#20

Post by celer »

kiba wrote: post #14
tsurantino wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think that it should necessarily be the case. Part of the reason why mathematics & sciences are taught by hand is to demonstrate the process and confront the complexity at hand. "Nobody is trying to identify problems, break them down, make hypothesis, and so on." This is not necessarily true. Sure, after you are first shown the problem you then trudge through multiple calculations and variations of the proble…

Part of the reason why mathematics & sciences are taught by hand is to demonstrate the process and confront the complexity at hand. So what? Programmers deal with lot of complexity all the time. This is not necessarily true. Sure, after you are first shown the problem you then trudge through multiple calculations and variations of the problem, but the purpose of this isn't to grind it out and memorize it, but to rein…

Important point here: You are not representative. If you are on Hacker News, you have probably been called brilliant at least once. You are almost certainly, given that you don't seem to be a non technical co-founder in a startup, in the top 5% of the population for mathematical/logical(not necessarily arithmetic) abilities. Just because you find the calculations tedious does not mean that most people don't benefit from them. From what I recall, most people forget a concept that they are exposed to once and only once.
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