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A Middle-Aged Writer's Quest To Start Learning To Code For the First Time (1843magazine.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the gotta-start-somewhere dept.

OpenSourceAllTheWay writes: The Economist's 1843 magazine details one middle-aged writer's (Andrew Smith) quest to learn to code for the first time, after becoming interested in the "alien" logic mechanisms that power completely new phenomena like crypto-currency and effectively make the modern world function in the 21st Century. The writer discovers that there are over 1,700 actively used computer programming languages to choose from, and that every programmer that he asks "Where should someone like me start with coding?" contradicts the next in his or her recommendation. One seasoned programmer tells him that programmers discussing what language is best is the equivalent of watching "religious wars." The writer is stunned by how many of these languages were created by unpaid individuals who often built them for "glory and the hell of it." He is also amazed by how many people help each other with coding problems on the internet every day, and the computer programmer culture that non-technical people are oblivious of.

Eventually the writer finds a chart of the most popular programming languages online, and discovers that these are Python, Javascript, and C++. The syntax of each of these languages looks indecipherable to him. The writer, with some help from online tutorials, then learns how to write a basic Python program that looks for keywords in a Twitter feed. The article is interesting in that it shows what the "alien world of coding" looks like to people who are not already computer nerds and in fact know very little about how computer software works. There are many interesting observations on coding/computing culture in the article, seen through the lens of someone who is not a computer nerd and who has not spent the last two decades hanging out on Slashdot or Stackoverflow.

9 of 183 comments (clear)

  1. meanwhile, in the kitchen... by ealbers · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The Economist's 1843 magazine details one middle-aged writer's (Andrew Smith) quest to learn to cook for the first time, after becoming interested in the "alien" logic mechanisms that power completely new phenomena like oven cooking and effectively make the modern world function in the 21st Century. The writer discovers that there are over 1,700 actively used recipes to choose from, and that every chef that he asks "Where should someone like me start with cooking?" contradicts the next in his or her recommendation. One seasoned chef tells him that chefs discussing what recipe is best is the equivalent of watching "religious wars." The writer is stunned by how many of these recipes were created by unpaid individuals who often built them for "glory and the hell of it." He is also amazed by how many people help each other with cooking problems on the internet every day, and the kitchen chef culture that non-technical people are oblivious of.

    Eventually the writer finds a chart of the most popular recipes online, and discovers that these are Beef,Chicken and Pork. The syntax of each of these recipes looks indecipherable to him. The writer, with some help from online tutorials, then learns how to cook a basic recipe that tastes a lot like orange hair marmalade with small hands. The article is interesting in that it shows what the "alien world of cooking" looks like to people who are not already kitchen nerds and in fact know very little about how the chemistry of cooking works. There are many interesting observations on cooking/chef culture in the article, seen through the lens of someone who is not a cooking nerd and who has not spent the last two decades hanging out on BigCookDot or Potoverflow.

    1. Re:meanwhile, in the kitchen... by johannesg · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I came here to ridicule the article, but you have already done all I could have hoped for and more. Thank you.

      For anyone who thinks it is only computer nerds that speak an 'alien' language full of 'weird terminology', try talking to a builder, a plumber, a farmer, a teacher, or really anyone of any other profession about his work. You'll soon discover that their professions are also full of weird and alien terminology, rituals, and habits that make absolutely no sense to an outsider. The fact that we need words to describe things in our little corner of the world is not strange, it's what every profession does. The difference with us is that everyone uses computers, so everyone gets exposed to our terminology.

      And of course we are also in a unique position of our tools appearing to be magic. I very much doubt any blacksmith ever received a bug report like "I bought an axe for cutting down trees from you. I then tried to cut down a skyscraper, but the axe failed completely at this task. There is a bug in my axe. It should cut down anything I want to cut down." or "I prefer holding the axe by the metal part, since the metal feels smooth and cool. However, the wooden part is terrible at cutting things down. It doesn't even cut grass in this configuration! I think my axe is broken. It should cut properly in every orientation, not just when you are holding the wood part. Some people prefer to hold the metal part, they should be accomodated as well."

      That last one is just about literally a bug report that I received last week. Of course I'm a programmer, not a blacksmith, so nobody bats an eye at it...

    2. Re:meanwhile, in the kitchen... by The+Evil+Atheist · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Why does the article need ridicule? Here's a middle aged person with no skill in the subject, putting himself through something difficult to a lot of people just to get insight about something, rather than be scared of it.

      Why do you want to ridicule that?

      Compare to the average Slashdotter who whinges about the stupidest programming horrors and refusing to learn anything new or difficult and preferring to remain stuck in whatever they were taught or learnt at the time. Then they ridicule other people who do learn the stuff they refuse to learn, and speaking completely from ignorance.

      Kudos to this person who didn't do that, and actually tried his hand at something completely foreign to him.

      --
      Those who do not learn from commit history are doomed to regress it.
    3. Re:meanwhile, in the kitchen... by serviscope_minor · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Why do you want to ridicule that?

      There seem to be quite a few people who can only make themselves feel good by shitting on others efforts. I generaly assume they have prodced nothing of worth.

      --
      SJW n. One who posts facts.
    4. Re:meanwhile, in the kitchen... by johannesg · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It needs ridicule because _every_ profession on this planet comes with its own unique, impenetrable terminology, yet somehow computer professionals are the only group always being called out on it. Has there ever been an article about someone being amazed at the number of different tools a carpenter uses? If not, why is an article expressing amazement about the number of programming languages ok? And don't even get me started on legal, financial, or medical professions, where you need a professional just to interpret what the other professionals are saying...

      So yes, it's perfectly fine to ridicule someone who barges in and acts like he is visiting the bloody Morlocks, like we are some sub-human tribe that cannot possibly be expected to hold a normal human conversation. It's idiotic and demeaning.

    5. Re:meanwhile, in the kitchen... by drinkypoo · · Score: 3, Insightful

      You're the reason why nerds get beat up, and I no longer feel sorry about nerds getting beaten up since you're arseholes to people who are trying something new.

      You're not sorry people get beaten up, yet I'm the arsehole?

      When was the last time you tried something completely new and outside of your skillset?

      I'm not taking exception to him trying something completely new, that part is cool. I'm taking exception to him doing something completely trite, whining about jargon and complexity when every field has jargon and complexity. It's whiny and it's hypocritical.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  2. Urgh. by Motor · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Coding is about a way of thinking... not about a particular language. Pick one that lets you get started quickly and doesn't require you to understand objects etc just to do your first simple program. This is why BASIC was great... it got kids going quickly and gave them a nice simple slope into more complex subjects and ambitious stuff:

    10 print "hello"
    20 goto 10

    Also, ignore 99.9% of the stuff you get as advice. I remember back in the mid-2000s... I read some Gentoo Linux nuts advising people wanting to get off Windows that Gentoo was the right choice - definitely. It will compile up from source... and it only takes about 15 hours to install - and oh, BTW, you should make sure you set CFLAGS to "-march=x86_zzxxxy_intel -O9999".

    Shut up zealots.

    --
    We all know that crap is king
    Give us dirty laundry!
  3. Re:Poor author finds out he's a poor coder by The+Fat+Bastard · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The average American reads at the sixth or seventh grade level. The Econmist is college level. If you want to improve your reading comprehension, read The Economist or The Wall Street Journal. I wouldn't worry about his coding. His comments might be more readable than most comments by programmers.

  4. Re:Meh, take some college courses by religionofpeas · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I have ran into many programmers that didn't get their degree in computer science and didn't take any computer science courses in college, and they all fall in the same level. Mediocre

    Maybe just correlation, not causation. I have a degree in CS, but I mostly I learned programming in my spare time. The fact that I was interested in programming led me to sign up for the education.

    "How do I sort this list?"

    Call the sort() function, usually.