Forum Overview :: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves :: "Do we really need to learn to code?"

[quote name="Ice Cream Jonsey"]Here is a title of an article that has one of those titles you can instantly reply to and that should be it. :/ <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/elements/2014/06/do-we-really-need-to-learn-to-code.html">Link.</a> [quote]“Learn to Code!” This imperative to program seems to be everywhere these days. Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg recently donated ten million dollars to Code.org, a non-profit that believes that “every student in every school should have the opportunity to learn computer programming,” and that “computer science should be a part of the core curriculum.” So-called “developer boot camps” are popping up everywhere. For second graders, recent college graduates, and people looking for a new career alike, the implication seems to be: Take an intensive course to learn to code and forget about everything else. In the May 29th issue of Newsweek, the tech columnist Kevin Maney argued that all this coding reeducation might soon be unnecessary. “Computers are about to get more brainlike and [soon] will understand us on our terms, not theirs,” he wrote. When that happens, “the very nature of programming will shift.” He projects that by 2030 we won’t program at all; we’ll simply tell our machines what we want them to do. Computer programming will be as essential as cursive handwriting. [/quote] I think it was in 2005 that I saw a demo of some software that was supposed to let you code using flowcharts. My fear is that, having seen a few go-nowhere and clumsy attempts at coding without coding, that I'd be against any such thing ever working in the future. What do you think? ICJ [/quote]