President Obama calls on every American to learn code • Hacker News Board

Re: President Obama calls on every American to learn code

#11

Post by kamjam » Mon, Dec 09, 2013, 7:02 PM UTC

api wrote: post #6

While I think more people should learn code, I think the president getting up and telling everyone to do anything that isn't applicable to... well... every-freaking-one ... is stupid. Washington is clueless in two ways. (1) It normally doesn't get new things and lags behind. (2) When it does get things, it proceeds to fail at execution or not really get them and do ham-fisted things like this. So that means that Wash…

I agree. How many of those making laws right now know anything about technology let alone how to code? So why does Joe Public specifically need to know how to code? It would be much better to teach people math and proper grammar, that would get them much further in life.

Re: President Obama calls on every American to learn code

#12

Post by sciguy77 » Mon, Dec 09, 2013, 7:02 PM UTC

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.

Re: President Obama calls on every American to learn code

#13

Post by fleitz » Mon, Dec 09, 2013, 7:03 PM UTC

This could be America's great leap forward into the 21st century.

Re: President Obama calls on every American to learn code

#14

Post by middleclick » Mon, Dec 09, 2013, 7:06 PM UTC

thearn4 wrote: 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.

Re: President Obama calls on every American to learn code

#15

Post by edtechdev » Mon, Dec 09, 2013, 7:07 PM UTC

Here are actual activities people can do online to get exposed to coding: http://csedweek.org/learn

including an activity for people with no programming experience: http://learn.code.org/hoc/1

Re: President Obama calls on every American to learn code

#16

Post by gum_ina_package » Mon, Dec 09, 2013, 7:09 PM UTC

Maybe if everyone knew how to code, we could fix healthcare.gov.

Re: President Obama calls on every American to learn code

#17

Post by MaggieL » Mon, Dec 09, 2013, 7:10 PM UTC

bluthru wrote: post #10

sliverstorm wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. No matter how effective you think he is, or how much you like his policies, it seems pretty clear he's under tremendous stress.

Working with the congress that has the lowest approval rating in history, and the congress that has passed the least amount of bills will do that to you.

Rating Congress by "number of bills passed" is as smart as rating coders based on number of lines of code written.

Re: President Obama calls on every American to learn code

#18

Post by avenger123 » Mon, Dec 09, 2013, 7:10 PM UTC

This "learn to code" meme is getting tiresome.

Why not focus on the more critical skills in life that are more applicable to most people. Here's a big one:

1. Learn to communicate. Improve your writing and speaking skills.

Re: President Obama calls on every American to learn code

#19

Post by kunai » Mon, Dec 09, 2013, 7:10 PM UTC

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 master, and that was already with a background in elementary calculus using the infinitesimal approach. I'm reading Knuth's seminal "Art of," and I can immediately say that it would be absolute hell for anyone without an advanced mathematics background.

That brings us to mistruth #2: that somehow, learning to "code" will help younger people build tomorrow. That's utter bull. Learning to code will only lead to worse code: uglier, crappier, and less elegant and efficient code. Github will become a junk pile. Instead of coding, we need to teach students the programming part of computer science. Get a copy of Algorithms into every CS course and get rid of all of the silicon in the classroom. Trust me, people will learn much more meaningful things about problem-solving that way. Isn't that what writing code really sets out to do? You know, SOLVE PROBLEMS? Just code is NOT going to help that at ALL.

Then there's problem number 3, and probably the largest one: it assumes that programming is something we need EVERYONE to learn. EVERYONE. Yes, that is Code.org's goal. EVERYONE SHOULD CODE.

You know what, fuck it and let's teach EVERYONE TO BE A MECHANIC. Right? Why the hell not? It's like programming. Only that nobody in their right minds would tell people to make mechanical engineering a part of the curriculum. But people insist on doing the same for CS, as if it's any different.

I could go on about this for days. But forget it, Atwood's explained it far better than I ever could.

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originally posted in the original discussion located here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6873136

Re: President Obama calls on every American to learn code

#20

Post by simlevesque » Mon, Dec 09, 2013, 7:11 PM UTC

Do you really need to know some science to code ? From my perspective it is not required.