Coding is the new cursive writing – and we have to embrace it

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/coding-is-the-new-cursive-writing-and-we-have-to-embrace-it/article35776671/

by cdl • 9 years ago

12 3 9 years ago

It is unlikely to go the way of cursive writing though given that cursive writing is no longer taught in a large number of schools in the United States.

taylodl• 9 years ago

It was going well until the author implicitly conflated "learning to code" with "learning HTML." This is the narrative that needs to be fixed.

There's three kinds of coding:

1. Systems

2. Applications

3. Analytics/Problem-Solving

There's no need to teach everyone how to do systems or applications programming. Zero. Zilch. Nada. What they do need to learn is how to solve problems, create graphs and charts, etc. That potentially involves learning Python, R, Fortran, Matlab, spreadsheets, etc. Essentially we need to introduce them to the idea that your computer is the best programmable calculator ever created and that you can chuck your Texas Instruments calculator and solve much more kinds of problems of much higher complexity.

Thing is schools have already started going down this path for document creation. Kids today know all about word processors, presentation software, image & video capture and manipulation, and so forth. Now we just need to introduce them to another set of tools for STEM-related problem-solving and then we're all set.

netzone• 9 years ago

It doesn't even have to go as far as writing code, which can be a real bottleneck for some people.

Visual programming is getting larger by the day, and it's a much smaller step for people to take.

It lets you focus more on the actual logic of the things, which is what I think is most important when teaching programming.

There's no point in teaching people how to work with javascript libraries, memory management or any kind of specific programming if that's not what interests them.

It should be as much surface-programming as is possible, and still letting them create cool stuff.

Coding is the new cursive writing – and we have to embrace it

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