
Coding is not ‘fun’, it’s technically and ethically complex - m4rtyr
https://aeon.co/ideas/coding-is-not-fun-it-s-technically-and-ethically-complex
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dlkf
This article is not only wrong, it's the opposite of the truth. Putting to one
side the blatant false dichotomizing, let's look at the central argument:

> Insisting on the glamour and fun of coding is the wrong way to acquaint kids
> with computer science.

I'm not convinced that:

A) This is happening very much,

B) or would work even if it was happening,

C) or would be particular bad if it happened and somehow also worked.

Messaging in the vein of the author's examples is innocuous. Nobody is going
to see Tim Cook say "coding is fun" in a news clip and then conclude that a
four year computer science degree is easy, or that their friend who works in
software is an idiot and gets paid simply to have fun. With regards to more
intentional examples, let's be realistic: how many kids are going to see a
presentation in class entitled "coding is fun" and respond differently than
"this blows, what's for lunch?"

And what if they did? They might learn something about it on wikipedia; they
might try writing a script; they might choose a major they would otherwise
have overlooked. Which is, frankly, the best thing we could hope for. The
problems facing engineering in 2019 aren't the result of too many people being
interested in computer science, _they are the result of too few._

> In just a few years, understanding programming will be an indispensable part
> of active citizenship

This is clearly untrue, unless you interpret it more broadly as "having a
general understanding of technology and the role it plays in the economy." And
along with statistics and logic, _it already is, and we have failed utterly to
proselytize it_. Do you think that our society would be improved by a push to
make statistics more boring to students?

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antonvs
> In just a few years, understanding programming will be an indispensable part
> of active citizenship.

This seems to contradict the article's earlier point about "jobs that demand
intense focus", like brain surgery and structural engineering.

No-one would claim that "In just a few years, understanding brain surgery will
be an indispensable part of active citizenship."

Since programming is "complicated" and "exquisitely technical," why would we
expect it to be "an indispensable part of active citizenship," as opposed to a
specialty like any other, and how is that going to change in "just a few
years"?

~~~
sixplusone
Understanding is not the same as performing. I can "understand" or get the
gist of what is being said in german (or lisp, or rust, etc), but it's
difficult to read and I can't write it; also could be understanding the
mechanics or basic principles.

Literacy is complicated but indispensable in the last century.

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aiscapehumanity
Well coding and software engineering are two different things anyway, so the
article begins with conflating the context. Coding is just syntax awareness,
good at coding is one thing but to start engineering software(And hence where
the ethics issue mostly lies, say with bias inheriting algorithms) requires
that gap of discipline that you don't necessarily have if you just play in
code in a rudimentary fashion.

~~~
johtela
The mainstream media conflates them as well, so the point of the article is
valid.

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ptah
> being ‘in the flow’

that is by definition a fun place to be

~~~
lidHanteyk
Flow is not the sense of time disappearing because the dubstep is loud and the
code makes sense and the feature is getting built and the tests are passing.
Flow is the sense of time slowing down for a musician and the blur of fast
notes stretching out into a precise and engineered plan.

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rhoyerboat
I don't like the author's attitude but I find the article at least tangential
to something worth considering. Flawed communications as a social issue are
larger in scope than technology alone. False equivalence is dangerous. If I
was going to make an argument to support anything positive that I find in the
article, I would frame it like this..

Popular presentations: coding=hacking=glamour hacking=crime=glamour

Less popular presentations: work=money=glamour creativity+work=glamour+money

Never mind the assumption that glamour is desirable. I'll just pretend that
glamour represents any positive outcome, but be very strict about that being a
local declaration on its' way to the garbage collector real fast.

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sanxiyn
False dichotomy. It is both fun and technically complex.

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omarhaneef
"If you have to ask, you'll never know." \-- Louis Armstrong when asked what
was so great about Jazz music.

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derision
What a shite article

