You dont need phd in mathematics to be a good software developer.
But it sure helps of you want to do any scientific computing.
Will the Push for Coding Lead to ‘Technical Ghettos’?
31–40 of 76 posts
Re: Will the Push for Coding Lead to ‘Technical Ghettos’?
#32I don't get the complaint that teaching Java and JavaScript puts them on the bottom rung. You have to learn on some programming language and those are as good as any, though starting on Java sounds painful.
Java jobs are well paid and Javascript is the new BASIC. It's not a bad choice.
Nothing the majority of people learn in High School is well paid. If these programs are effective, entry-level programming jobs will drop to minimum wage from the increased supply.
"Coding literacy" may or may not be a worthwhile goal with a net positive impact, but it is certainly not going to let everyone get in on the current tech salaries.
Re: Will the Push for Coding Lead to ‘Technical Ghettos’?
#33I don't get the complaint that teaching Java and JavaScript puts them on the bottom rung. You have to learn on some programming language and those are as good as any, though starting on Java sounds painful.
I think he's implying that teaching them how to code and not how to design programs will be the new "vocational" equivalent. Although this issue seems like it just generally applies to the education system as a whole, not specific at all to coding... unless I'm missing some key point. Also, I think perhaps the issue is with allowing "coding" classes to qualify as math/science credits may encourage some students to es…
Agreed, with the additional observation that this is just a reservation builder akin to a knowledge of Microsoft Office products from yesteryear.
Re: Will the Push for Coding Lead to ‘Technical Ghettos’?
#34I usually try to temper my judgments on these sorts of articles, but this is patently ridiculous.
Is it the police and prison systems that are endangering another generation of black and brown youth? Is it the lack of fresh, organic food in inner-cities? Maybe it's the fact that black and brown parents have, at a disgustingly disproportionate rate, been taken away from their families for possession of plants and chemicals that are likely to be legal soon anyway?
No, no, it's not that stuff. It's the fact that kids are learning Java and Javascript instead of Python and Go and Rust.
Re: Will the Push for Coding Lead to ‘Technical Ghettos’?
#35Make 'em learn COBOL!
Re: Will the Push for Coding Lead to ‘Technical Ghettos’?
#36The article says over and over that learning to code is not CS. I fully agree but then it goes on to imply that CS is really about problem solving skills which is also inaccurate. CS is fundamentally about data structures and algorithms and it branches off from there into many subtopics. People often forget about the S in CS and mentally substitute a T for technology. Arguably most employers these days really want software engineers not computer scientists anyway.
Re: Will the Push for Coding Lead to ‘Technical Ghettos’?
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
Because if you can't be the best, don't even try. Right? Btw, ponus points for (in the context of this article) implying that Black and Hispanic children aren't smart enough to be software engineers.
You can try all you want, and in fact I encourage everyone to do so. Let's not have populists plant the seeds that all it takes is government handouts (and also wave the carrot of future career ROI in front of people who don't know better) though. This is at best misdirection and manipulation by corrupt demagogues who know nothing about software or engineering. Unless of course there are others, besides hack job poli…
All this program is doing is attempting to give exposure to programming to young students who may not otherwise have an opportunity to do so. No matter how naturally gifted a student may be, the tools to learn and grow have to be put within their reach in the first place.
The criticism this article is levying is how it is threatening to produce code monkeys instead of well-rounded software engineers. But that is because (I believe) that they are suggesting "programming" credits could be used in lieu of math/science credits to graduate. Which would create high school graduate who can program tolerably but have little to no skill doing anything else... aka a vocational training.
The criticisms aren't "Well they won't be any good at it anyways."
You're also making a very strong elitist stance on the matter. The tone of your comments strongly imply "software engineers are better than other people, only the chosen few may join our illustrious ranks!"
Re: Will the Push for Coding Lead to ‘Technical Ghettos’?
#38Most intern resumes that I've seen recently have Java, Python, and Javascript on them. A few add C/C++ to those. I've only seen one with anything approaching a functional language (OCaml).
Personally I think Python, Java, or Javascript are good places to start coding. Python has the slight edge because there are a lot of good educational kits (Raspberry Pi as an example) that really make learning to code fun although the whole 2.x/3.x mess muddies the water a bit.
I think once the tooling gets a little bit better then Haskell could easily be added to that list. It's close but not quite there today.
Re: Will the Push for Coding Lead to ‘Technical Ghettos’?
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
Java jobs are well paid and Javascript is the new BASIC. It's not a bad choice.
Nothing the majority of people learn in High School is well paid. If these programs are effective, entry-level programming jobs will drop to minimum wage from the increased supply. "Coding literacy" may or may not be a worthwhile goal with a net positive impact, but it is certainly not going to let everyone get in on the current tech salaries.
> If these programs are effective, entry-level programming jobs will drop to minimum wage from the increased supply.
I think there not very effective but can give a bit of programming culture and maybe the real programming virus to few.
This dicussion reminds my the personnal experience of "prog21" at school on a Apple ][:
> One guy presented this amazing demo full of animation and shaded images. I'm talking crazy stuff, like a skull that dripped blood from its eye into a rising pool at the bottom of the screen. And that was just one segment of his project. I was stunned. Clearly I wasn't the hotshot programmer I thought was.
Re: Will the Push for Coding Lead to ‘Technical Ghettos’?
#40> Is it the lack of fresh, organic food in inner-cities?
Ha ha ha ha you think people are held back because their food isn't organic? Ha ha ha ha ha!