Comment Fail (Score 2) 212
I'm a long-time developer too, and I don't equate coding with just putting instructions in a machine the same way I don't equate literacy with cursive writing. Anyone who's done 'coding' knows that the main part isn't the syntax of a particular language, an API or an IDE, but a way of setting goals, decomposing functionality and building it at various levels of abstraction. The word 'coding' is a bit of a misnomer and therefore people come up with false dichotomies like coding vs. 'development' or 'software engineering'.
The benefit of teaching programming to everyone isn't that everyone becomes a software developer, the same way that teaching writing to everyone does not make everyone a creative writer, still nobody argues for the eradication of teaching writing. But it gives the chance to all; gives a powerful problem solving tool for the slightly more academic type (e.g. helping their research); it gives a means of communicating complex relations, and people will gravitate to various levels of competence, including the ability to control ever more complicated home automation.
Ah maybe this guy is a _really_ long time developer and equates coding with punching cards... how is that relevant in today's world.