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Don't Learn to Code; Learn to Think

posted by azrael on Saturday July 05 2014, @03:48PM   Printer-friendly
from the you-can-only-choose-one dept.

AnonTechie writes:

It seems like everyone is trying to learn to code: Code.org has celebrities like Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, and Chris Bosh telling you anyone can code; CoderDojo's are springing up all over the country; the UK has made it part of their official curriculum for all grade school kids.

I think this is slightly misguided. Don't get me wrong - I do think the world would be better off if everyone had some familiarity with coding - but coding itself should not be the goal. Computers and programming are just tools. They are a means to an end. The real goal should be to teach people a new way to think. In other words, we should be trying to teach computer science and not just coding. In this blog post, inspired by Simon Peyton Jones' wonderful TED talk Teaching Creative Computer Science, I'll explain the difference between the two, and why focusing on the right one is critical for the movement to succeed.

 
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  • (Score: 1) by Uncle_Al on Saturday July 05 2014, @05:39PM

    by Uncle_Al (1108) on Saturday July 05 2014, @05:39PM (#64588)

    That's funny, I thought it was so I could memorize tables of integrals, since if you didn't have them memorized along with the magic equivalences you couldn't finish the exam in the time given.

    And what about literary and social analysis or history (20th century technological history in particular)?
    Is that the 'wrong' kind of 'thinking'?
    It certainly isn't valued in engineering schools, or by nerds in general.

    The closest a nerd gets to philosophy is the "Bruce's Philosophers Song"