Should We Really Try To Teach Everyone To Code?

theodp writes: Gottfried Sehringer asks Should We Really Try to Teach Everyone to Code? He writes, "While everyone today needs to be an app developer, is learning to code really the answer? Henry Ford said that, 'If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.' I view everyone learning to code as app development's version of a faster horse. What we all really want — and need — is a car. The industry is falling back on code because for most people, it's the only thing they know. If you want to build an application, you have to code it. And if you want to build more apps, then you have to teach more people how to code, right? Instead, shouldn't we be asking whether coding is really the best way to build apps in the first place? Sure, code will always have a place in the world, but is it the language for the masses? Is it what we should be teaching everyone, including our kids?" President Obama thinks so, telling Re/code at Friday's Cyber Security Summit that 'everybody's got to learn to code early' (video). But until domestic girls (including his daughters) and underrepresented groups get with the program(ming), the President explained he's pushing tech immigration reform hard and using executive action to help address tech's "urgent need" for global talent.

Comments

No

[Anonymous Coward]

Most people aren't fit to code. Don't force them to do something they won't enjoy, are going to end up hating, and is most likely going to be very useless in their lives. Well, okay, many think that about maths too, but then I can see that the fundamentals of maths are needed everywhere.

Re: No

[garyisabusyguy]

Sure, right up to the point where the 'customer' feels like you are challenging their status by asking questions that they cannot answer (and should probably know to perform their job)

Re:No

[ColdWetDog]

You may be more correct than you think - yes, we've allowed everyone to get a driver's license.

No, civilization is not the better for it.

Be careful what you ask for, you just might get it.

Re:No

[lgw]

Far too many people have built-in barriers to performing these steps

Belief in magical entities that change the world at will, or belief in absolute rules have to be the biggest barriers.

Coding is world built entirely from absolute rules and that's why people can't do it. They can't actually say what they mean, they just grunt a bit and expect you to have "common sense". The compiler has absolute rules, however.

And if you don't believe in magical entities that change the world at will, you haven't debugged a sufficiently complex system. "Follow these exact steps and the problem will reproduce about 1 in 5 times, more or less."

of course.

[nimbius]

Teaching everyone to code is like teaching everyone to become prostitutes. for some it wont be interesting enough to continue as a profession, for others they wont be proficient enough. However, if you're a wealthy man looking for a prostitute who doesnt entirely understand sex, its the deal of a lifetime and pennies on the dollar.

Re:skynet

[garyisabusyguy]

No matter how good it could code, you could give skynet bad requirements and it would still give you crap

We need to teach people how to use logic, perform analysis and give clear descriptions of what they want to happen

Far too often I have seen 'customers' give an incomplete description, fail to understand what they want to happen and then spew at the developers that they failed

Just teaching them to work with others and stop expecting magic unicorns to appear when they described a turd would remove half of the barriers to delivery

Re:skynet

[itzly]

We need to teach people how to use logic, perform analysis and give clear descriptions of what they want to happen

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. I deal with people describing what they want, and in my experience, I'd much rather deal with somebody who can tell in his own terms what problems he's facing, and wants to have fixed. The worst are people who know a little bit about coding, and instead of describing the problem, they start describing a "solution" they came up with.

On a related note:

[ruir]

Should we teach everyone to: - work in an ER room? - be a mechanic? - operate sewing machines? - be a pilot? - be a prostitute? The possibilities are endless, I tell you.