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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

#251

Post by dinkumthinkum »

potatolicious wrote: post #22
rhizome wrote: post #4

The message is clear: top political donors want cheaper labor.

Wat. A few months ago when someone taught a homeless man to code we congratulated him on improving another man's lot in life. We continue to give kudos to folks like CodeAcademy for teaching people how to code free of charge and introducing more people to our industry. But when the government does it it's a conspiracy the depress wages? Sometimes I just... nevermind, I forget where I am.

Sh... don't disagree with or poke holes in the echo chamber ...

Re: President Obama calls on every American to learn code

#252

Post by ilaksh »

negamax wrote: post #105
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 guessing it's going to get substantially easier to program going forward. Look at amount of tools and technologies we have access to. Communities, Github, Refactoring, Intellisense. So many things just out of the box. Many ready made, battle tested libraries and frameworks. It's going to get a lot easier for a non computer science person to do some end level programming. Like dragging some blocks (just thinking…

The main thing holding back software development is source code. And the reason for that is culture rather than technology. Because you aren't a 'real' programmer unless you are typing colorful complex text. That's just what the definition of a programmer is.

However, in most domains, interactive graphical tools have been invented and reinvented numerous times that are more efficient than text-only programming. Those tools remain unpopular because of a cultural failure to recognize that programming does not require colorful text that is difficult to decipher.

Re: President Obama calls on every American to learn code

#253

Post by justatdotin »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #167
United857 wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We teach writing as a required subject in schools, without the expectation that everyone is going to be a professional writer. We teach science without the expectation that everyone is going to be a scientist. We teach physical education without the expectation that everyone is going to be a professional athlete. These are all good life skills to have even if you don't learn enough to make it your career. So it shoul…

We should also be teaching how to change a tire, how to cook basic nutritious meals, personal finance, etc.. “A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a compu…

"plan an invasion" - sounds inhuman

Re: President Obama calls on every American to learn code

#255

Post by toomuchtodo »

justatdotin wrote: post #253
toomuchtodo wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We should also be teaching how to change a tire, how to cook basic nutritious meals, personal finance, etc.. “A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a compu…

"plan an invasion" - sounds inhuman

I take it as reading Sun Tzu's Art Of War at least once; strategy.

Re: President Obama calls on every American to learn code

#256

Post by jzwinck »

blktiger wrote: post #235
lhnz wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I think about the practical skills that I learnt in my education, years later there were only a few key concepts which really mattered: rudimentary arithmetic in Mathematics, good writing/reading skills from English, understanding of empiricism from the Sciences. I think the question is: is there a foundational skill or concept that learning coding gives you? I think perhaps there is and it's something to do wit…

I suspect it has more to do with problem-solving and analysis. In theory students should gain this kind of knowledge from mathematics, but I don't think that seems to work out in reality for most people.

Most people won't acquire great problem solving skills with programming either. You need only look at a few new questions on StackOverflow to see that. I think your parent is onto something though, that the unique skill available by basic programming in symbolic logic, and perhaps logic in general. It won't come to everyone, but without programming it may be even less likely. The problem of course is that it takes patience and attention to detail--two other skills not everyone has in abundance. Programming is not a freestanding skill, it requires much foundation.

Re: President Obama calls on every American to learn code

#257

Post by ilaksh »

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…

There has been a move towards credit rather than saving, but a big part of what you are talking about is actually just the economy tanking. People can't save. I don't have money for my healthcare, or for my taxes for this year, or for taxes for last year. The reason is that I have health problems I haven't been able to deal with. I am not uneducated and I have excellent technology skills. I don't spend a lot of money. I am not an unusual case.

Re: President Obama calls on every American to learn code

#258

Post by th3byrdm4n »

mmaunder wrote: post #143

Talk about a passionless plea. He should be more passionate and the message should be education in general i.e. inclusive of math, literacy, etc. Anyone notice how tired he looks? His eyes are swollen and red. Rough job.

It's shallow but that's the first thing I noticed, he looks sick / has allergies, or possibly he is getting over something quite emotional?

In other news, I wonder how much coding he does?

Re: President Obama calls on every American to learn code

#260

Post by dpcheng2003 »

tslathrow wrote: post #244
dpcheng2003 wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a particularly cynical response to something I consider to be incredibly positive, but I think there's a lot of scar tissue in the industry from bad behavior so you may be right to be wary. Let me tell it from my perspective. I was a finance guy whose only coding experience was a couple of CS classes in college and some excel coding at my job in ibanking. When I decided I wanted to start a company, the first t…

Why'd you leave IBD/VC?

Before, I built pitch books and excel models and funneled money from one place to another, taking a cut.

Today, I build websites that democratize content (okay that's a bit hyperbole). I just feel better about my life choices now that I'm building something substantive.

Being an entrepreneur is a great experience for anyone who can cut it. I also think it should be a necessary pre-req for investors to be a founder at least once. I do miss the money and lifestyle though...

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