Comment The Real Purpose of Programming for Everyone (Score 2) 475
From the Computer Programming for Everyone essay:
Please remember that the point of this proposal is not to churn out programmers who can write CORBA applications, or add to the Linux kernel. This proposal's main purpose is to raise computer literacy, which includes the ability to understand the very basics of how a computer works, and how to make modifications to existing applications. Hopefully this education program will also help future systems programmers and computer scientists get a head start, but I will address that issue later in this comment.
I believe that having lots of programmers who can modify and extend applications is a good thing. Yes, most people will not be good programmers, but this program, if implemented well, will give people the skills and tools to make real contributions to our software that we might not even be able to conceive of right now.
Raising computer literacy will also help in discussing and deciding technology issues as a society, especially as government establishes a larger role in privacy, security, and censorship across the internet.
I have read many posts questioning Python as the choice for a first language. How many of you first learned Basic, then went on to learn C, C++, assembler, and other languages? Did Basic really impede your development as a programmer, and do you really think that Python would be worse as a first language?
My point is that future hackers will learn to use other languages, even if their first language is not C++ or Java. I learned Basic in high school, then Scheme, C, Lisp, and assembler (MIPS) in college. I somehow doubt that learning assembler was made any harder or easier by learning how to program Basic on a Commodore 64.
One previous poster made a very good point that high school should be for learning basic skills such as reading and writing, and not for vocational skills. If done properly, learning how to program can teach one how to think logically, communicate effectively, and organize information in a coherent manner. In order to motivate students and give them positive feedback, it may be necessary to give them work that produces something that is useful, or at least works. I know that it was frustating to only be able to print "Hello world" when I was first learning C.
This is why a user friendly development environment is vital for teaching programming to everybody. On a related note, does anyone have anything to say about the DrScheme? This is a Scheme development environment for beginning students. Is Guile a useful thing for DrScheme, or are the two things irrelevant?
We compare mass ability to read and write software with mass literacy, and predict equally pervasive changes to society. Hardware is now sufficiently fast and cheap to make mass computer education possible: the next big change will happen when most computer users have the knowledge and power to create and modify software.
The open source movement claims that peer review of software by thousands can greatly improve the quality of software. The success of Linux shows the value of this claim. We believe that the next step, having millions (or billions) of programmers, will cause a change of a different quality--the abundant availability of personalized software.
Please remember that the point of this proposal is not to churn out programmers who can write CORBA applications, or add to the Linux kernel. This proposal's main purpose is to raise computer literacy, which includes the ability to understand the very basics of how a computer works, and how to make modifications to existing applications. Hopefully this education program will also help future systems programmers and computer scientists get a head start, but I will address that issue later in this comment.
I believe that having lots of programmers who can modify and extend applications is a good thing. Yes, most people will not be good programmers, but this program, if implemented well, will give people the skills and tools to make real contributions to our software that we might not even be able to conceive of right now.
Raising computer literacy will also help in discussing and deciding technology issues as a society, especially as government establishes a larger role in privacy, security, and censorship across the internet.
I have read many posts questioning Python as the choice for a first language. How many of you first learned Basic, then went on to learn C, C++, assembler, and other languages? Did Basic really impede your development as a programmer, and do you really think that Python would be worse as a first language?
My point is that future hackers will learn to use other languages, even if their first language is not C++ or Java. I learned Basic in high school, then Scheme, C, Lisp, and assembler (MIPS) in college. I somehow doubt that learning assembler was made any harder or easier by learning how to program Basic on a Commodore 64.
One previous poster made a very good point that high school should be for learning basic skills such as reading and writing, and not for vocational skills. If done properly, learning how to program can teach one how to think logically, communicate effectively, and organize information in a coherent manner. In order to motivate students and give them positive feedback, it may be necessary to give them work that produces something that is useful, or at least works. I know that it was frustating to only be able to print "Hello world" when I was first learning C.
This is why a user friendly development environment is vital for teaching programming to everybody. On a related note, does anyone have anything to say about the DrScheme? This is a Scheme development environment for beginning students. Is Guile a useful thing for DrScheme, or are the two things irrelevant?
