While we are all surrounded by technology, it does not mean that we have mastered them all. Some people have – they are experts and authority figures in the computing field. The rest of us are mere users who know just enough to navigate sophisticated technology without really fully understanding the technology and logic behind them.
We may think of computers as advanced pieces of technology that can do almost everything we ask them, the truth is, not. Computers can look up websites when you are browsing or store files we save on them because they have been programmed to do that. But if you ask them to, say, clean the house for you or cook food, then nothing will definitely happen because they weren’t programmed to do that at all. So see, they aren’t the supreme machines we used to think of. And what better way to understand the wonders of computer programming than to start them young.
After a successful Hour of Code day last year, students from School 16 were able to participate in the global movement for a second time on Tuesday.
Throughout the day Tuesday, students from different classes at the elementary school learned the basics of computer programming as part of a program that reaches tens of millions of students in more than 180 countries, Hour of Code activities are designed to help students learn new skills that can lead them to pursue careers in computer programming.
(Via: http://www.troyrecord.com/article/TR/20170207/NEWS/170209839)
If you are still clueless about it, writing computer programs is at the core of computer programming. It involves the writing of an instruction sequence with the use of computer programming language so that a computer performs a particular task you ask of it or for it to solve a specific problem.
It may have been the right decision, but when it was ultimately decided that these advantages were outweighed by Latin being a dead language we arguably lost that intellectual training in the process. This is why we want to make the case for moving another discipline to the centre of the curriculum that offers analogous benefits – computer programming. And unlike Latin, it is anything but dead.
There are many computer languages for different purposes. C and C++ remain the fastest to execute and are used by the gaming industry, for instance. In the internet era, much of the page design is done with the likes of JavaScript or PHP. Meanwhile Python has been rapidly gaining a reputation as a general purpose code that is easy to learn.
There are many parallels between natural languages and programming languages like these. You must learn to express yourself within the rules of the language. There is a grammar to comprehend. And what you write must be interpretable by another human being. (Yes, it must be interpretable by a computer. But just as Noam Chomsky’s example of “colourless green ideas sleep furiously” is grammatically correct nonsense, you can write obfuscated computer code that no one else can decipher.)
People who program can communicate with computers, which is becoming more and more important now that computers have a hand in almost everything. In today’s IT-literate world, we are all expected to be fluent in word processing and spreadsheets. The next logical step is to be able to program.
The younger generation are already exposed to computers almost from the day they are born, which explains for example Barclays bank’s recent launch of Code Playground, an initiative to engage young children in the basics of programming via a colourful website.
(Via: https://theconversation.com/why-everyone-should-have-to-learn-computer-programming-62328)
Almost everyone now uses a computer or a smart gadget whether at home, work or at school. And everywhere you look, you can see that machines and computers are all around us. Not only will you become handy and skilled in using computers if you learn the basics of computing but you’ll also be able to find a related job anywhere in the world. With the number of people using computers, it is obvious that computer programming will remain to be an in-demand profession for years to come. Rather than take a course in college that is no longer relevant in our modern world, why not take up computer programming instead and no longer have a hard time keeping up with all the technological advancements in the world today.