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Learn To Code, It's More Important Than English as a Second Language, Says Apple CEO (cnbc.com)
Apple CEO Tim Cook says it is more important to learn how to code than it is to learn English as a second language. From a report: The tech executive made the remarks to French outlet Konbini while in the country for a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron, who has called for tech companies to pay higher taxes in Europe. "If I were a French student and I were 10 years old, I think it would be more important for me to learn coding than English. I'm not telling people not to learn English in some form -- but I think you understand what I am saying is that this is a language that you can [use to] express yourself to 7 billion people in the world," Cook tells Konbini. "I think that coding should be required in every public school in the world. [...] It's the language that everyone needs, and not just for the computer scientists. It's for all of us."
That will improve communication in international development teams -- not having a common language to speak to each other in. I'm sure that will have no impact on the final product.
The idea that everybody needs to learn to code is ridiculous. It's like saying that everybody needs to learn how to build a house, or how to build a car, etc.
Just like learning basic carpentry or basic auto repair is a useful life skill, so are basic computer skills. But if programming isn't your thing, then learning it isn't going to do you a lot of good in your life.
Code using what programming language ?
Swift ?
Whose keywords are english words ? And most of the documentation is in english ?
The french should sue Apple for not releasing the programming language "Rapide" - where all the keywords are in french. And it understands the following:
laisser a=quatre-vingt-dix-huit
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Seriously, it does not. The level most people can learn to code on (with significant effort) is maybe comparable to being able to order a beer or to say "thank you" in a foreign language. Coding is an experts-only game and it will remain that. You would not seriously advise people to "learn to do mathematical proofs", would you? Coding on any level where it is worthwhile doing is on that level and often even harder, since you need to understand the machine you are coding for.
Of course, Cook will likely know that very well and just wants to assure a steady supply of cheap, low-quality coders. The stupidity here is with those that believe such statements.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
>"Apple CEO Tim Cook says it is more important to learn how to code than it is to learn English as a second language."
And that just shows how ignorant he really is. Knowing English is far, far, more important than learning coding. It is useful in just about every single field out there and give you the ability to communicate to nearly anyone on Earth, certainly any place that has a strong economy and/or strong educational system. But most importantly, communication language is something best learned when very young. The brain designed to be wide open and ready for communication language ability. Computer coding is something the brain is NOT really ready for when very young- that comes later with logic, reasoning, math, etc. And keep in mind that while all humans can easily learn English [when young], that is NOT true for coding- there is a large portion, perhaps a majority, of people who will never really learn or master coding at ANY age.
Knowing both (English and Coding) is great. But if you have to choose one, make it English and teach it young. If you can do both, teach coding later, after English.
"If everyone learns to code, then we can pay programmers less. Thank you!"
Try avoiding buried power lines, phone and cable lines, and pipes with a backhoe. Try getting a backhoe through a gate barely wide enough to walk through.
Contribute to civilization: ari.aynrand.org/donate
Seriously ... I've never heard a reference to any software he developed before?
Bill Gates, by contrast, actually DID write some code, including part of the BASIC operating system that was used in some of the old Radio Shack TRS-80 computers.
It seems to me like if you haven't learned to code yourself, it's pretty hypocritical to declare that all students need to learn it now.
There is nothing funny about this; it is 100% insightful. Cool should stick to what he understands. The minute people start spouting this "everyone should know how to code" bullshit, or start talking about computer languages as options to human ones, they immediately identify themselves who don't have the slightest clue about software.
Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
You just go out and "hire a backhoe"?
Do you mean rent one? Because if so, bullshit. You've got to transport it, you've got to deal with 611, you've got permits if you're in a residential area, you've got a whole lot of fucking shit.
If you mean "hire someone to use a backhoe to dig for me", you ARE hiring a team of people. There's the person in the office you spoke with, the manager, the person who buys the equipment, the guy who deals with the permits, the guy who handles the insurance, the guys who run the backhoes, the guys who drive the trucks, etc. etc. You're just ignorant and you don't think beyond what's right in front of your face.
Sorry but Tim Cook is living in a bubble, the majority of people are totally unfit to code. From my own experiences math geeks tend to do the best at it, that peculiar genetic mind set seems to really suit it. There are other really smart people, really smart and they are still crap and coding. All sorts of problems crop up. For me, presented a problem, all sorts of coding solutions would pop up, and unfortunately I would try to implement all of them at the same time, each part works on it's own but the combination, what a mess and it takes forever to dig out because each bit works, fix it sure but most certainly not productively or efficiently.
By far the bulk of the population will never ever be able to code productively, no matter how hard you try to force it.
Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
the majority of people are totally unfit to code.
I'm sure this view is based on rigorous scientific studies and you have submitted a meta-analysis paper in Nature. Perhaps you would share with us the scientific articles that have studied the programming abilities of wide range of populations?
If there is no scientific backing of what you said, what you said is hardly credible. You use weasel words all over the place: “unfit to code”, “peculiar genetic mind set”, “really smart people”, “crap at coding”, “code productively”. History is littered with dubious attempts to claim that certain groups of people “just can't do a particular thing”, like “Women are not capable of logical reasoning” or “Negroes are mentally handicapped”. To me, your reasoning looks somewhat like this:
Sure, it makes sense to discuss if programming languages are useful to learn, like any other foreign language, but you should not outright dismiss most of people, especially without evidence.
There isn't a professional with any significant amount of experience in the field who doesn't know that many, many people are not able to competently do our job, because we have worked with many of them. You wouldn't complain if we said not everyone can be a doctor or a physicist, but coding? Anyone can do that! It's easy. The fact you think we need studies to show that such an idea is ludicrous makes you one of the people unqualified for the job.
Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
Sorry but Tim Cook is living in a bubble, the majority of people are totally unfit to code.
The majority of people are unfit to write professionally. Does this mean they shouldn't learn a language? I don't think the intent is that everyone become a professional programmer. But gaining some knowledge into how, and why a computer works would certainly be valuable.
That doesn't even address people coding as a hobby, or out of self interests (Maybe writing a quick python script to solve a particular one-off problem.