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Not everyone should learn to code, just as not everyone should become a chef. Not everyone will need to program, not everyone will be inclined to lear

Not everyone should learn to code, just as not everyone should become a chef. Not everyone will need to program, not everyone will be inclined to learn it and not everyone will enjoy it. This bothers me a lot. I see it quite frequently that "Not everyone should learn to code". Especially with comparisons to other professions... As if "Knowing how to code" is the same as "Being a chef"... "Not everyone will need to program", in the same sense the not everyone will need to know how to cook? It's true, you don't have to in this day and age. But for it's bloody helpful if you do... Don't get me wrong, not everyone should be a software developer. But the considering that you use things that run on code every single day, for the majority of your waking time, it'd probably be a decent idea to know the basics. In the same sense that if you are a car driver, having some basic knowledge of the rules of the road and a basic understanding of physics, while not necessary to drive, is still bloody helpful. Now, to comment, as a developer, on the article, it's still good and the part about tutorials is so very true it hits almost a bit too close to home. Find a tutorial that assumes you're 5. Learn conditionals, understand them. Learn loops, understand them. One. Step. At. A. Time. Also, the first point just isn't true. I've spent quite some time teaching kids code and Everyone can learn how to code. Even that dyslexic kid with ADD that's chasing the squirrel during class. Not everyone can get GOOD at writing code. And being a developer isn't for everyone. But LEARNING HOW TO CODE, is something Everyone can do.

kpil 10y ago
I thing you are right. Everyone should learn some basics, just to get a sense of what is possible to automate and what is hard. Being a professional developer is another thing. To be happy and not feel miserable at work, you actually need to be rather intelligent in multiple ways, and in addition to that also really like it. A certain stubbornness is also required. I have had plenty of colleagues that were awfully nice but some how never really got a grip of what they were doing. Most of them quit and some of them got administrative jobs which I think they managed to do rather good if perhaps not great. I think that some people are just not able to keep all levels and abstractions in their head at once.
danso 10y ago
Every time a post like this comes up, I make the following points: - Learning to code does not mean that everyone should work as a programmer, just like learning to read and write does not mean that everyone should end up as a professional writer (or even blogger). - For millennia, human societies have done just fine without the literacy we take for granted today. Rulers could rule without it. And commoners didn't really have time for it. Plus, no one could afford Kindles. - Before mass literacy, the ability to read and write was necessary to be a scholar or historian. Or part of the clergy. If you didn't want to be any of those things, you'd be well-justified in not spending a third of your lifespan (or whatever 12 years is to a pre-industrial-age lifespan) learning how to read and write, nevermind math. - Fast forward to today. Western societies have 95%+ literacy. I don't think I need to enumerate all the ways we benefit from everyone being able to read and write, despite the vast majority of people being bad at writing (if Facebook posts are a loose measurement). I agree with most of what the OP says but am disappointed that she still has a too narrow view about the scope of programming. Writing is, on the surface, the ability to record thoughts on a relatively permanent and highly distributable medium (compared to oral storytelling). It's a nice skill to have if you like being able to disseminate your ideas without literally having to tell it to each person, in person. But literacy's power goes deeper than that. A poet 500 years ago is able to write about love, and today, those of us who are literate can know his thoughts and perspectives, even though we don't know his (physical) voice or even his exact identity, nevermind his place in society. The OP is completely right that people underestimate how hard it is for beginners to learn how to code. I've always thought that once a novice learns how to use a for-loop, they'll have enough of the power of programming to make their lives better. I still think that way, though I'm happy if that epiphany is reached after 10 weeks. A for-loop turns out not to be that simple when you really think about what it represents, and there's a lack of easy real-life analogies for defining a stored block of code to be evaluated out of your control. But that's why programming is so much more than what the OP seems to believe. Someone who can write well can communicate their ideas to a yet-unknown human audience. Someone who can program can communicate their ideas to a machine with absolutely no brains of its own, but with limitless mechanical power. How is that not a universally beneficial skill?
- Nadya 10y ago
  I consider programming to be on the same level as "knows how to properly phrase Google searches". It won't make or break your life but it will make it a degree easier. For better or worse, Google has become a means of finding information - and finding accurate information quickly is a bonus. Programming allows you to automate many trivial but time consuming tasks. Even being able to write a few functions in an Excel sheet can save you hours at your job (and yes, FWIW I consider functions in excel sheets to be a form of programming). Everyone should be able to read and write basic programs, and as you said, people can still leave software engineering to software engineers. I've easily saved more hours automating small tasks with Javascript (w/ JQuery) then I ever spent learning Javascript & JQuery... Now on a completely unrelated tangent, please forgive me. >you'd be well-justified in not spending a third of your lifespan (or whatever 12 years is to a pre-industrial-age lifespan) Average lifespan was so much lower back in the day because children dying very young was relatively common (winters and illnesses, infections from injuries, etc.). If you made it into adulthood your life span looked to be much of what it is today (living to be 60-70+ years of age). But you didn't need to be able to read and write to farm, smith, or tailor. From a young age, your time was better spent doing minor tasks like gathering eggs from the hens and helping feed the pigs. So what fraction of your lifetime depends if you mean "average lifespan" or "typical lifespan assuming you made it through the early years". :P
beachstartup 10y ago
although i agree with you, the argument breaks down because (at least in the us) most people don't know how to cook, and most people don't know how to drive or know anything - literally nothing - about how a car actually works. there are entire states where it's even illegal to pump your own gas. have you looked at what people buy, even at high end markets like whole foods? it's an endless sea of prepared and packaged food. it's how they make most of their profits. whole foods isn't even expensive for real ingredients. competent well rounded people like that are in the tiny minority. i would guess 10% or less. the cross section of people who are capable of both like you or i and others on hn has got to be minuscule. in fact i would bet the anti-car pro-Soylent contingent is bigger.
- rz2k 10y ago
  > most people don't know how to drive or know anything That's a little like the sort of statement you hear from people that get into auto accidents, but always because someone else did something wrong. I'd recommend listening to podcasts or something if getting behind the wheel becomes an exercise in grading other drivers' skills. I half suspect that using your phone and texting friends while driving, to take your focus of other drivers, is safer than getting agitated enough about their incompetence that driving turns into a competition.
  - beachstartup 10y ago
    uh, i'm not even sure what the question was, but distracting yourself with your phone is not the answer. sounds like you're probably one of the people i'm talking about.
    - rz2k 10y ago
      Okay.
      - beachstartup 10y ago
        No.
wccrawford 10y ago
There seems to be a thing on the internet where nobody can take things simply. They have to make them epic. "Learn to code" becomes "become a master coder" and "learn to cook" becomes "become a chef". Unless they're writing it themselves, and then they think everyone else should understand what they meant. I see "learn to code" as the same type of learning as math and reading. The basics really are basic, and just require a very literal and explicit thought pattern that isn't always taught in school. Not everyone is going to be good at it, and that's okay. But they should be introduced to it and learn the basics anyhow.

kpil 10y ago

I thing you are right. Everyone should learn some basics, just to get a sense of what is possible to automate and what is hard. Being a professional developer is another thing. To be happy and not feel miserable at work, you actually need to be rather intelligent in multiple ways, and in addition to that also really like it. A certain stubbornness is also required. I have had plenty of colleagues that were awfully nice but some how never really got a grip of what they were doing. Most of them quit and some of them got administrative jobs which I think they managed to do rather good if perhaps not great. I think that some people are just not able to keep all levels and abstractions in their head at once.

danso 10y ago

Every time a post like this comes up, I make the following points: - Learning to code does not mean that everyone should work as a programmer, just like learning to read and write does not mean that everyone should end up as a professional writer (or even blogger). - For millennia, human societies have done just fine without the literacy we take for granted today. Rulers could rule without it. And commoners didn't really have time for it. Plus, no one could afford Kindles. - Before mass literacy, the ability to read and write was necessary to be a scholar or historian. Or part of the clergy. If you didn't want to be any of those things, you'd be well-justified in not spending a third of your lifespan (or whatever 12 years is to a pre-industrial-age lifespan) learning how to read and write, nevermind math. - Fast forward to today. Western societies have 95%+ literacy. I don't think I need to enumerate all the ways we benefit from everyone being able to read and write, despite the vast majority of people being bad at writing (if Facebook posts are a loose measurement). I agree with most of what the OP says but am disappointed that she still has a too narrow view about the scope of programming. Writing is, on the surface, the ability to record thoughts on a relatively permanent and highly distributable medium (compared to oral storytelling). It's a nice skill to have if you like being able to disseminate your ideas without literally having to tell it to each person, in person. But literacy's power goes deeper than that. A poet 500 years ago is able to write about love, and today, those of us who are literate can know his thoughts and perspectives, even though we don't know his (physical) voice or even his exact identity, nevermind his place in society. The OP is completely right that people underestimate how hard it is for beginners to learn how to code. I've always thought that once a novice learns how to use a for-loop, they'll have enough of the power of programming to make their lives better. I still think that way, though I'm happy if that epiphany is reached after 10 weeks. A for-loop turns out not to be that simple when you really think about what it represents, and there's a lack of easy real-life analogies for defining a stored block of code to be evaluated out of your control. But that's why programming is so much more than what the OP seems to believe. Someone who can write well can communicate their ideas to a yet-unknown human audience. Someone who can program can communicate their ideas to a machine with absolutely no brains of its own, but with limitless mechanical power. How is that not a universally beneficial skill?

Nadya 10y ago
I consider programming to be on the same level as "knows how to properly phrase Google searches". It won't make or break your life but it will make it a degree easier. For better or worse, Google has become a means of finding information - and finding accurate information quickly is a bonus. Programming allows you to automate many trivial but time consuming tasks. Even being able to write a few functions in an Excel sheet can save you hours at your job (and yes, FWIW I consider functions in excel sheets to be a form of programming). Everyone should be able to read and write basic programs, and as you said, people can still leave software engineering to software engineers. I've easily saved more hours automating small tasks with Javascript (w/ JQuery) then I ever spent learning Javascript & JQuery... Now on a completely unrelated tangent, please forgive me. >you'd be well-justified in not spending a third of your lifespan (or whatever 12 years is to a pre-industrial-age lifespan) Average lifespan was so much lower back in the day because children dying very young was relatively common (winters and illnesses, infections from injuries, etc.). If you made it into adulthood your life span looked to be much of what it is today (living to be 60-70+ years of age). But you didn't need to be able to read and write to farm, smith, or tailor. From a young age, your time was better spent doing minor tasks like gathering eggs from the hens and helping feed the pigs. So what fraction of your lifetime depends if you mean "average lifespan" or "typical lifespan assuming you made it through the early years". :P

beachstartup 10y ago

although i agree with you, the argument breaks down because (at least in the us) most people don't know how to cook, and most people don't know how to drive or know anything - literally nothing - about how a car actually works. there are entire states where it's even illegal to pump your own gas. have you looked at what people buy, even at high end markets like whole foods? it's an endless sea of prepared and packaged food. it's how they make most of their profits. whole foods isn't even expensive for real ingredients. competent well rounded people like that are in the tiny minority. i would guess 10% or less. the cross section of people who are capable of both like you or i and others on hn has got to be minuscule. in fact i would bet the anti-car pro-Soylent contingent is bigger.

rz2k 10y ago
> most people don't know how to drive or know anything That's a little like the sort of statement you hear from people that get into auto accidents, but always because someone else did something wrong. I'd recommend listening to podcasts or something if getting behind the wheel becomes an exercise in grading other drivers' skills. I half suspect that using your phone and texting friends while driving, to take your focus of other drivers, is safer than getting agitated enough about their incompetence that driving turns into a competition.
- beachstartup 10y ago
  uh, i'm not even sure what the question was, but distracting yourself with your phone is not the answer. sounds like you're probably one of the people i'm talking about.
  - rz2k 10y ago
    Okay.
    - beachstartup 10y ago
      No.

wccrawford 10y ago

There seems to be a thing on the internet where nobody can take things simply. They have to make them epic. "Learn to code" becomes "become a master coder" and "learn to cook" becomes "become a chef". Unless they're writing it themselves, and then they think everyone else should understand what they meant. I see "learn to code" as the same type of learning as math and reading. The basics really are basic, and just require a very literal and explicit thought pattern that isn't always taught in school. Not everyone is going to be good at it, and that's okay. But they should be introduced to it and learn the basics anyhow.