May 25, 2012 at 14:59Programming for Everyone: A New Literacy Standard
Any person should be able to read and write - once this thesis was the subject of debate, they said that these are skills for the "higher caste", but from the 16th to 19th centuries everyone agreed that literacy is really necessary for every person.
What about programming? Is it possible in the 21st century to recognize the knowledge of programming languages as a new standard of universal literacy? Recently, the idea is gaining popularity that it is necessary to introduce programming from the first grade of the school, because digital technologies are beginning to play a critical role in people's daily lives.
Even the 70-year-old Mayor of New York, billionaire Michael Bloomberg, recently enrolled in Javascript courses.
A person who can read and write can compose text of any form and purpose: from a small note to a sonnet and a novel (with sufficiently developed skills). A person who knows the basics of programming also discovers completely new opportunities in life: he can automate routine tasks, use powerful tools to process information. And most importantly, the potential of information technology is so great that only teaching programming to all people can truly reveal it.
For example, the founder of startup Boot DeveloperI am sure that programming will become the new norm of literacy in 20-30 years. Everyone should be able to code, because human / machine and machine / human communications will become as widespread as human / human communications. Those who do not know how to program will find themselves in the same position as those who could not read and write 200 years ago. They had to ask others to read the note or write a letter, because they themselves did not know how. The exact same situation is now with programming, he says .
The movement for universal knowledge of programming intensified in late 2011, when the online project Codecademy began work, which provides free online programming courses for everyone, and their mission is also based on the thesis that everyone in the world should know at least a simple scripting language.
However, not all programmers accept the idea of a “new literacy standard.” For example, recently, the article “ Please do not learn programming! »From renowned developer Jeff Atwood, founder of StackOverflow.com.
He scoffs at those who study only basic programming skills. For example, over the mayor of New York, who also enrolled in Codecademy courses in 2012. According to Atwood, Mayor Bloomberg will be able to write something like this at the final exam:
And even if Mayor Bloomberg suddenly wakes up as a cool Java coder: how will this help him to fulfill his duties more professionally, and indeed why is this necessary in everyday life?
Instead of general human / machine communications training, it would be nice to improve the effectiveness of human / human communications, says Atwood, which will do more good for society.
What about programming? Is it possible in the 21st century to recognize the knowledge of programming languages as a new standard of universal literacy? Recently, the idea is gaining popularity that it is necessary to introduce programming from the first grade of the school, because digital technologies are beginning to play a critical role in people's daily lives.
Even the 70-year-old Mayor of New York, billionaire Michael Bloomberg, recently enrolled in Javascript courses.
A person who can read and write can compose text of any form and purpose: from a small note to a sonnet and a novel (with sufficiently developed skills). A person who knows the basics of programming also discovers completely new opportunities in life: he can automate routine tasks, use powerful tools to process information. And most importantly, the potential of information technology is so great that only teaching programming to all people can truly reveal it.
For example, the founder of startup Boot DeveloperI am sure that programming will become the new norm of literacy in 20-30 years. Everyone should be able to code, because human / machine and machine / human communications will become as widespread as human / human communications. Those who do not know how to program will find themselves in the same position as those who could not read and write 200 years ago. They had to ask others to read the note or write a letter, because they themselves did not know how. The exact same situation is now with programming, he says .
The movement for universal knowledge of programming intensified in late 2011, when the online project Codecademy began work, which provides free online programming courses for everyone, and their mission is also based on the thesis that everyone in the world should know at least a simple scripting language.
However, not all programmers accept the idea of a “new literacy standard.” For example, recently, the article “ Please do not learn programming! »From renowned developer Jeff Atwood, founder of StackOverflow.com.
He scoffs at those who study only basic programming skills. For example, over the mayor of New York, who also enrolled in Codecademy courses in 2012. According to Atwood, Mayor Bloomberg will be able to write something like this at the final exam:
10 PRINT "I AM MAYOR"
20 GOTO 10And even if Mayor Bloomberg suddenly wakes up as a cool Java coder: how will this help him to fulfill his duties more professionally, and indeed why is this necessary in everyday life?
Instead of general human / machine communications training, it would be nice to improve the effectiveness of human / human communications, says Atwood, which will do more good for society.