
A Journey into the Minds of Silicon Valley Programmers (Book Review) - johnny313
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/01/books/review/clive-thompson-coders.html
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kelnos
It's a bit disappointing that the article (and presumably the book?) is filled
with schadenfreude, and also misses the mark: no one is saying that coal
miners can't learn Javascript (well, ok, I suppose _some_ misguided people are
probably saying that). But what people _are_ saying (which is IMO correct) is
that you can't take someone with no programming knowledge, give them a 3-month
programming course, and expect them to be able to build large software systems
independently, in a readable, maintainable, scalable, robust manner. (Just as
I wouldn't expect to be able to take a 3-month course on house-building and
then immediately build a great, modern house.)

I'll never claim that my profession is some sort of high-art magic that only
the select few can participate in. But it _is_ just like any other skilled
endeavor in that it requires practice, experience, opportunity, and a bit of
talent to become really good and long-term successful. Saying that coal miners
can be taught to program is not only a "duh" statement, it's also missing the
point.

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galaxyLogic
"Despite the mystique, coding is not an art."

I would think it is much more of an art than writing magazine articles. Anyone
can be taught to write book-reviews, even coal-miners.

Coding is like making new calculations per each new program. Sure everybody
with reasonable intellect can be taught to do that. But it's still an art. Not
everybody wants to do that. You need some inclination.

But I guess what the author is saying is that he was "mystified" by what is
coding before and is not so mystified anymore having been explained how it
works.

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chaseha
Book sounds interesting. Democratization of programming knowledge can only
benefit us in the long run

