In 1982 I took my first programming class (basic). I was in the 6th grade and it was offered at my junior high. Everyone that wanted to play with a computer had to figure out how to make it work, and had to write programs to play with it. It was the newest, and coolest thing. I think that nowadays people that have grown up with computers around everywhere are desensitized to them. They just expect them to be there, and they just expect them to work. They don't have to build a computer from scratch, they don't have to write programs to do the one thing they want to do, because odds are someone has already written it for them. I feel that until computers crest into the next level of 'new-fangled-ness' and there is a product vaccum again, that less and less kids are going to get into programming (in general). But what is really amazing is that I am at UCSC studying biology, and many of the people around me, although in their early 20's, have already done some programming. I just happen to be going into a field where there is a vacuum, and they have already had to fend for themselves. So I think programming will just become more of a niche, and that those that can do it will become much more valuable.
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In 1982 I took my first programming class (basic). I was in the 6th grade and it was offered at my junior high. Everyone that wanted to play with a computer had to figure out how to make it work, and had to write programs to play with it. It was the newest, and coolest thing. I think that nowadays people that have grown up with computers around everywhere are desensitized to them. They just expect them to be there, and they just expect them to work. They don't have to build a computer from scratch, they don't have to write programs to do the one thing they want to do, because odds are someone has already written it for them. I feel that until computers crest into the next level of 'new-fangled-ness' and there is a product vaccum again, that less and less kids are going to get into programming (in general). But what is really amazing is that I am at UCSC studying biology, and many of the people around me, although in their early 20's, have already done some programming. I just happen to be going into a field where there is a vacuum, and they have already had to fend for themselves. So I think programming will just become more of a niche, and that those that can do it will become much more valuable.