Ask HN: Is learning to code really that important for future generations?

What we learn at school doesn't need to be directly applicable to what we eventually do in our careers. There only needs to be a _metaphorical_ connection. In essence, we learn how to do things that are necessary through learning metaphors.

For example, we don't learn about history in order to know what happened in the past. We learn about history so we can understand how actions have consequences, how to build rational conclusions from evidence, how humanity has (and hasn't) changed over time, and so on. History is a really good metaphor for scientific rigour and process. We don't tend to tell kids that because learning about how some ancient civilisation killed another is less "boring" than formal logic.

When it comes to learning to code, being taught how to write an application so you might be the next Mark Zuckerberg is ridiculous. The next Mark Zuckerberg is going to learn coding regardless of what they're taught in a classroom. But, that said, would learning the fundamentals of logic, rigour, abstraction, and the application of some bits of maths* be useful for everyone to know? Definitely. I strongly believe we'd have better nurses, plumbers, fighter pilots, street cleaners, and so on in the future if children learn how to make Tetris when they're in school now.

* There's so little actual maths in coding these days this is actually a really tenuous thing to say. I've been a developer for 15 years; for about 14 of those years I've been wrangling strings with all the maths neatly abstracted away for me. Thank goodness.

More than anything, learning to code taught me how to break a daunting problem down into manageable components. While most children learning how to make a text adventure game in Python on a Raspberry Pi today won't be software engineers tomorrow, I do believe that the learning process will have taught them invaluable problem solving skills that they'll end up using every single day, regardless of their chosen career path.

I find frequently that knowing what a computer can do, and knowing how to do it has lead to lots of interesting projects. I know I can automate things I find boring and I know I can write embedded code to make cool electronics. I think many people aren't even aware of what programming can offer them, and so when they have a problem that very simple scripting could solve, they don't recognise it.

Almost every office worker could have at one point or another benefited from simple task automation. They just don't know it!

Yes, absolutely. (I did a short speech about this very thing at the http://www.meetup.com/Find-A-tech-Job-In-London/ - went down well. If you are in London go to the next one !)

In my view Programming today == Literacy in 1451 (Gutenberg's printing press). I call it code-literacy - and it has many facets - not only maths but the expression of less precise ideas. People who are literate are exposed to books, chapters, story arcs, narrative and argument.

Code-literate people are exposed to variables, data storage and recursive functions. all of whcih help you design and build your business with those capabilities.

In short, a company staffed by illiterate people and run by illiterate people operates in a very different way to one staffed by literate. The same works for code-literacy - companies who are code-illiterate will find themselves at a serious competitive disadvantage. This happened in Europe for the 150 years to 1600, and more slowly to late 19C.

I would argue that code-literacy is a force multiplier -if your relative competitive positions are even vaguely comparable, if you are code-literate and the opposition is not, you will crush them.

Learning to code will enable future office dwellers to create macros to automate things in word and excel. I didn't watch the video, so don't know how deep of a skill they are pushing, but some basic knowledge of doing if/else/while and functions is a good skill.

IMO, more people will benefit from basic programming skills, than for biology, physics and chemistry that is taught at schools. I wouldn't suggest to take those subjects out, but incorporating programming would be useful.