Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Codecademy (YC S11) on Colbert Report

colbertnation.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 36 posts

Re: Codecademy (YC S11) on Colbert Report

#21

Post by DateK »

mp3jeep01 wrote: post #13
tlarkworthy wrote: post #11

" SORRY BUT THIS VIDEO IS UNAVAILABLE FROM YOUR LOCATION Its one of the detriments of living under a monarchy. But in case you can't give up your silly accents and move to America, watch clips from .... etc. " To which I say ... "GOD SAVE OUR GRACIOUS QUEEN!"

Frustrating...didn't think of this before posting, sorry to those of you who get the "Sorry..." Maybe give TunnelBear a try? It's a free VPN service capped @ 500MB / month I think.

5F5080F16845DC6523F5F6B2D38FCCCA4585CE89

Bill Bryson cancelled it seems.

Re: Codecademy (YC S11) on Colbert Report

#22

Post by wyclif »

I'm a fan of Colbert, but I wish he hadn't let the comedy get in the way of the interview here. Sims didn't get to say enough, and got cut off the couple of times he got serious questions. Hardly any steak, mostly sizzle.

Re: Codecademy (YC S11) on Colbert Report

#23

Post by babby »

wyclif wrote: post #22

I'm a fan of Colbert, but I wish he hadn't let the comedy get in the way of the interview here. Sims didn't get to say enough, and got cut off the couple of times he got serious questions. Hardly any steak, mostly sizzle.

Pretty much why I cant watch Colbert anymore. In the last year or so, perhaps I have changed, perhaps the show has; but it's like a quick-gratification joke circus to me now while The Daily Show seems like it's getting lazier.

Re: Codecademy (YC S11) on Colbert Report

#24

Post by NhanH »

leeoniya wrote: post #16
patrickaljord wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> coding is truly useful for already somewhat technical, detail-oriented people who can get more work done or get it done faster with code. "Ah, yes. The same way writing was for exceptionally dull monks. And yet, strangely, the world became a better place as more people learnt reading and writing. I might be dull - I let my friends judge - but I'd like to make one point very clearly. Pretty much the entire world run…

turning everyone into coders will not change the world. it's akin to a theoretical physicist insisting that 99.999% of the population wallow in ignorance about the universe because their understanding is much too shallow. i read a lot about discoveries in theoretical physics and even though i couldnt discern a gluon from a top quark in a Feynman diagram, i have very rough concept of what's involved without doing any…

Doctors and research PhD, in general, would benefit from being able to program as well, and indeed I believe a very large number of them do.

And I don't think that learning to code is equivalent to working professionally as a programmer. The same way as learning how to read and write is different than being a writer or a poet, and yet no one argue about the importance of being literate.

And yes, even if you only know how to use VBA to summarize your research results, it'd still probably worth it.

Re: Codecademy (YC S11) on Colbert Report

#27

Post by jaredsohn »

leeoniya wrote: post #6
karenxcheng wrote: post #3

Thanks for sharing this, it's easy to get stuck in our Silicon Valley bubble. Thought it was really interesting how CodeAcademy was framed for mass media.

i saw this air last night. i think he was a bit off base in calling everyone from all walks of life to learn to code. coding is truly useful for already somewhat technical, detail-oriented people who can get more work done or get it done faster with code. it is certainly not for everyone to know how to do in practice, but an in-depth "Intro to How Computers/Internet Works" is a must for everyone. The internet is NOT…

>i think he was a bit off base in calling everyone from all walks of life to learn to code.

If nothing else, advocating for that is in his company's best interest.

Re: Codecademy (YC S11) on Colbert Report

#28

Post by ssully »

babby wrote: post #23
wyclif wrote: post #22

I'm a fan of Colbert, but I wish he hadn't let the comedy get in the way of the interview here. Sims didn't get to say enough, and got cut off the couple of times he got serious questions. Hardly any steak, mostly sizzle.

Pretty much why I cant watch Colbert anymore. In the last year or so, perhaps I have changed, perhaps the show has; but it's like a quick-gratification joke circus to me now while The Daily Show seems like it's getting lazier.

He has always been like this. He will get pretty serious for specific topics, but most of the interviews are framed in a comedic way like this.

That's fine though. It still gives various people exposure, and I have looked into numerous authors, politicians, and musicians because what was seen beyond the comedy bits interested me.

Re: Codecademy (YC S11) on Colbert Report

#29

Post by rlu »

wyclif wrote: post #22

I'm a fan of Colbert, but I wish he hadn't let the comedy get in the way of the interview here. Sims didn't get to say enough, and got cut off the couple of times he got serious questions. Hardly any steak, mostly sizzle.

This happens in every single Colbert interview that I've watched. At this point, as the interviewee, you're effectively signing up for it and if you're taken by surprise then you're silly for not having done your research.

Don't get me wrong - I agree with you. But this is not a special case and in general I feel the same way everytime someone gets interviewed by him. But then I stop feeling bad because I know that they knew what they were getting themselves into :)

Post reply on HN