Coding - the new Latin

It is important, but I prefer Eben Moglen's analogy:<p>"Software is what the 21st century is made of. What steel was to the economy of the 20th century, what steel was to the power of the 20th century, what steel was to the politics of the 20th century, software is now. It is the crucial building block, the component out of which everything else is made, and, when I speak of everything else, I mean of course freedom, as well as tyranny, as well as business as usual, as well as spying on everybody for free all the time."<p><a href="http://www.softwarefreedom.org/events/2011/fosdem/moglen-fosdem-keynote.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.softwarefreedom.org/events/2011/fosdem/moglen-fos...</a>

Who here studied Latin?<p>Well I did Latin for 6 years in High School (Sydney Boys fyi). I find this title "Coding - the new Latin" as a bizarre way of inducing people to learn to code.<p>Latin is dead. Very dead. Back in my day Latin was billed as "The Fastest Growing Language", but that never transpired.<p>Now if you want to read Caesar, Virgil, Catulus et al, then fine learn Latin. But Latin is no longer the ticket to an elite private members club that it once was.<p>Latin - is also a language that you exclusively read. There is so little creative element to it. One furthers oneself in Latin by re/interpreting existing works.<p>Coding - is a creative craft where you take instructions and make something that never existed before.<p>It would be better to strap coding onto something intensely creative:<p><pre><code> Technical Drawing Metal Work Fine Art, Sculpture</code></pre>

When I think about all of the problems with the education system I am not sure that "teaching coding" would top that list. The bottom line is that coding is a profession which is not suited to everyone. I remember being a TA at university in the late 90s when IT was booming. Everyone wanted to learn to program. Once they learned enough to realize it meant sitting in front of a computer alone all day - most moved on to something else. Few people have the concentration / (lack of :-) social aptitude. I believe most people have the intelligence.<p>Basic computer skills need to be taught. Coding? It should possibly be a required semester in university for all majors. ...beyond that? Does everyone really need to know about recursion?

I think that's a horrible phrase. The first thing that comes to mind is: "Coding isn't dead!", then: "But coding has direct benefits, not hand-waving indirect benefits like 'you will get better at English!'" I get that it's meant to convey that if you can't code even a little, you're an uneducated person, much like in older times people who didn't know Latin (and Greek) were uneducated. That's a fine sentiment to have, I agree coding is more or less a fundamental skill these days that many are ignoring, but using Latin as the metaphor isn't the way to go. It needs to be as important as learning to write.

I think it's a great analogy--there is little like programming for opening your mind up in certain ways. Big ideas from computer science--more than those from any other single subject--have changed they way I see the world.<p>Of course, I am highly involved in computer science, so its effect on me is disproportionate. However, I think that <i>everyone</i> would benefit from at least a cursory understanding of the big ideas behind CS, particularly abstraction. If I had to choose one, single concept that has affected me more than any other it would be abstraction. Apart from this, the highly logical programming mindset is also healthy. Some of the discipline that comes from writing your ideas in a form even a computer can understand is invaluable.<p>Additionally, programming is a creative endeavor with a very low barrier to entry: this is imperative for certain types of people. In my arrogance, I view myself as a relatively creative individual; however, I am also fairly lazy. I do not think I would have pursued engineering or art nearly to the extent I did programming (I was exposed to all three at relatively early ages) simply because they required so much more. To build something, I would need materials, tools and space; the same is naturally true of drawing a picture. To program all I needed was a computer, and since they were common by the time I was in elementary school, this was not an issue. This allowed me to make cool stuff without going out of my way.<p>Computer science really is something that opens the mind. I fervently believe it should stand with subjects like math and literature, not just for practical reasons but because it is immensely valuable for personal development.

Why is it that coding is such a rare (relatively speaking) skill?<p>Sure, there are some hard concepts in coding, but for loops and conditional statements are hardly more difficult to understand than a lot of the math which gets taught in junior high.<p>Speaking of that, why is it essential for young people to learn algebra but not to learn for and if?

My experience with IT education in the UK is genuinely atrocious. During secondary school we made a spreadsheet in Excel and a couple of Word documents. The closest thing to programming was a picture of traffic lights we had to "programmatically" operate. For a single hour lesson. And that is it. We were lucky if our computers even turned on.

I've spoken to both of my principals and my ICT teacher about introducing a solid computer science course and scraping "ICT". As a student and a avid programmer, I find it horrible that we don't get a chance to truly leverage the power of computers.<p>The reason I don't think CS is being widely adopted is because many students have been conditioned to accept ICT as a good computer course and have no clue as to what you can achieve with proper training and a computer. My classmates aren't interested in CS because they think it's way to difficult and has no tangible effect on society. On top of that, both of my previous ICT teachers had no clue how to program: those days were spent editing movies and making animations in Flash.<p>Glad to see the powers that be finally take some initiative to solve this problem...

<i>And it looks like they've found what could be a great slogan for their campaign. "Coding is the new Latin," says Alex Hope...</i><p>To echo number of the other comments here (and try and respond to some of the criticisms of those comments):<p>I think that's a <i>terrible</i> slogan.<p>The point of a slogan is to be immediate - something appealing that gets the point across in a catchy and unambiguous fashion.<p>I think that the <i>associations</i> (and slogans are about associations) Latin has for most people is a language that is presently irrelevant and of no practical purpose.<p>It may have once been really significant, and it may have played an important role in the world becoming what it is today, but such details are not the things that the term "Latin" immediately invokes for most people, and what it immediately invokes is what matters for a slogan.<p>Being a great analogy does not make it a great slogan.

Ewnay atinlay? ixnay!