Better Tools For Programming Literacy

waderoush writes "Adam Wiggins, co-founder of Heroku, agrees with anthropologist Bonnie Nardi that programming isn't just for geeks. The problem, he says, is that today's tools for teaching programming are woefully inadequate. In a commentary, Wiggins argues that there are two major gaps preventing programming tools from being accessible to beginners: 1) they're too fussy, requiring extensive setup, and 2) they're focused on the technology rather than everyday tasks. A good tool for learning programming, Wiggins argues, would emulate an Excel or Google Docs spreadsheet – beginners would be able to fire it up instantly, and would be able to get useful things done right away. (He's dismissive, though, of visual programming tools that 'attempt to hide logic behind a point-and-click interface.') 'Broad programming literacy is crucial in a world increasingly made of computers,' Wiggins says. 'Despite common stereotypes, programming is not out of reach for the average person,' as long as the tools are easy to set up and specialized on the programmer's task."

Comments

Re:I agree that programming is not for geeks

[narcc]

Skills take practice. Writing, being a skill, also takes practice. Writing computer programs is no different.

The parent is right, any idiot can learn to program just as any idiot can learn to read and write. The the fact that it takes practice to do both well does not mean that those skills are forever beyond the potential of the average nobody.

It seems like the only people who claim that writing computer programs takes a "special mind" or some other nonsense are insecure developers who have no other skills or interests. They have a lot of their identity and self-worth wrapped up in their tiny little skill-set. I suspect that many of them realize that computer programming is not beyond the reach of the unwashed masses, and that's a thought that absolutely terrifies them.