

Why I Desperately Needed to Learn to Code - gregp
http://influencehacks.com/why-i-desperately-needed-to-learn-to-code

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onlawschool
I think you hit the nail on the head. With all of the resources that are
currently available on the internet, it is easier than ever for a non-
technical person to learn enough about programming for them to piece together
a programatic solution to a wide variety of problems.

In an age where many people spend 40+ hours per week in front of a computer
screen, even a small marginal increase in a computer user's productivity could
save them hundreds of hours a year. As a result, it seems like a completely
reasonable investment of a non-technical person's time and energy to learn
enough about programming to enable them to scrap together a program that
allows them to accomplish simple tasks more efficiently.

Would a professional programmer be able to write better code more quickly? Of
course. But would a person with zero programming knowledge even recognize when
a particular task they are spending hundreds of hours each year manually
performing could easily be automated? Probably not.

~~~
kpennell
2nd this.

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tweiss
This should be a mandatory read for every business guy who wants to run his or
her own start-up. I wish I could have read this post three years ago. I still
look back in horror on how I interacted with coders or with my technical co-
founder before I started to learn to code myself.

I guess the bottom line to the whole discussion started by Jeff is: Not
everyone should become a coder, not everyone can become a (good) coder, and
not everyone wants to become a coder. But if you really feel like learning to
code is the only way not to get left behind in this rapidly changing world (vs
just doing it becomes everybody thinks it's cool nowadays), go for it!

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sparknlaunch12
This is probably the best of the recent 'don't/do code' blog posts. You don't
need to be a guru but over time you can learn enough to get by and understand
code.

If you are building a serious business, eventually you will need to hand over
the real development work, to real developers. This allows you time to do what
you're good at.

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reilly3000
Agreed. Marketing dude here (who uses mixrank btw) that learned to hack a
little bit. Good for my life, and good for talking to programmers about
programming. I'm not a programmer, but I think my life is better for having
hacked some things together. It has certainly helped me appreciate the
challenges of developing great software.

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andrewflnr
That list of lessons learned? That's why everyone should learn to code, or at
least try, if for no other reason than so they know what it's like on our end.
And hey, it might be directly useful, too.

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corkercsuite
Every CEO and executive should experience a bit of this.. there is soo much
productivity waiting to be unlocked if only c-suite could 'get' IT. Sigh ...

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sneak
Just me, or is Svbtle's "kudos" widget absolutely balls-to-the-wall
counterintuitive? I gave "kudos" earlier by accident...

~~~
garindra
I didn't notice it before I saw your comment; I then tried it, and as a
result, gave the "kudo" by accident too. This is a great example of
beauty/fanciness != good user experience. There's no way to "unkudo" either,
sigh..

~~~
CognitiveLens
I did the same thing, got momentarily distressed, then realized it means
absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of things and smiled at a playful
little implementation of a voting widget.

This is the show where everything is made up and the points don't matter.

~~~
sneak
For bonus points, go watch the hour (6x 10-minute vids) of Whose Line outtakes
on youtube. Easily some of the best comedy I've ever seen in my life.

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nirvana
Radical notion: Some people should learn to code. Some shouldn't. Not everyone
should be a programmer. Some people need to program even though they are bad
programmers (e.g.: a business guy stringing together off the shelf services
with a little bit of glue code to make an MVP to attract an engineer
cofounder.)

If you have the internal drive to be a programmer- great, be one. If the idea
repulses you, then do something else.

I don't really think there is all that much peer pressure for everyone to be a
programmer.

In the past, however, there was. Back In The Day, "computer literacy" meant
programming because computers often came with little more than a basic
interpreter out of the box. This is no longer the case.

I think all these tools that let "non-programmers" learn to code are great--
because there's a lot of "non-programmers" who could benefit from it. For
instance, ops people aren't necessarily "programmers" but they can use scripts
to automate tasks that would be mundane and repetitive otherwise.

If an assistant wants to learn a macro language so that they can better
operate spreadsheets-- wonderful.

I worked thru one of the online programming classes with a non-programming co-
founder and I think she found it pretty valuable. She's not writing code now,
but her understanding of what's going on with the product is much better.

I think its silly to pretend like everyone has the same level of programming
skill (which was a hard lesson for me to learn, because it always seemed so
easy for me, and I figured t would be for other people.) But its also silly to
poo-poo on "non-programmers" wanting to learn some programming.

These tools are great. And this drama seems, well, also silly.

I'm a programmer. I would think any article saying "Everyone should learn
marketing!" is silly, but I'd also think that "nobody should learn marketing
except marketers" is also silly. I spend a lot of time thinking about
marketing and learning everything I can-- because its something we need.

~~~
kiba
I think we should incorporate programming into mathematic classes starting
with the earliest grade possible.

The way people are taught mathematics is mostly useless. It's a bunch of
equation and calculation that people are doing _by hand_. Nobody is trying to
identify problems, break them down, make hypothesis, and so on. With
programming, we could take the usefulness of mathematics to a whole new level
by breaking the bottleneck of calculation.

In the end, we may be able to produce even more mathematicians, engineers, and
scientists at an earlier age, because they learn the skillset needed to be in
those profession.

~~~
tsurantino
I don't think that it should necessarily be the case. Part of the reason why
mathematics & sciences are taught by hand is to demonstrate the process and
confront the complexity at hand. "Nobody is trying to identify problems, break
them down, make hypothesis, and so on." This is not necessarily true. Sure,
after you are first shown the problem you then trudge through multiple
calculations and variations of the problem, but the purpose of this isn't to
grind it out and memorize it, but to reinforce the process and underlying
parts to solving the problem.

There's kind of a reason why at some point we teach certain elements of
programming by hand too.

Maybe I'm reducing your question but I think it's important to note the
intrinsic value of teaching by hand vs. always incorporating automation by
programming.

~~~
kiba
_Part of the reason why mathematics & sciences are taught by hand is to
demonstrate the process and confront the complexity at hand. _

So what? Programmers deal with lot of complexity all the time.

 _This is not necessarily true. Sure, after you are first shown the problem
you then trudge through multiple calculations and variations of the problem,
but the purpose of this isn't to grind it out and memorize it, but to
reinforce the process and underlying parts to solving the problem._

All you have to do is recognize the problem and apply the calculation to
derive an answer. The calculation will also be particularly tedious. Does that
sounds like "reinforcing the process" to you? It's all busywork that can be
done by machines.

 _There's kind of a reason why at some point we teach certain elements of
programming by hand too._

I was never taught that way, or rather, I taught myself. I learn a few basic
concepts and apply it to projects. I also learn how to use tools like
debuggers that help make me figure out things a lot easier.

 _Maybe I'm reducing your question but I think it's important to note the
intrinsic value of teaching by hand vs. always incorporating automation by
programming._

There's a big difference between teaching some mathematical concept by hand
and forcing students to calculate by hand everytime they confront a problem.
They should be able to program a solution to the problem and then move on to
the next problem.

~~~
celer
Important point here: You are not representative. If you are on Hacker News,
you have probably been called brilliant at least once. You are almost
certainly, given that you don't seem to be a non technical co-founder in a
startup, in the top 5% of the population for mathematical/logical(not
necessarily arithmetic) abilities. Just because you find the calculations
tedious does not mean that most people don't benefit from them. From what I
recall, most people forget a concept that they are exposed to once and only
once.

~~~
kiba
_Important point here: You are not representative. If you are on Hacker News,
you have probably been called brilliant at least once. You are almost
certainly, given that you don't seem to be a non technical co-founder in a
startup, in the top 5% of the population for mathematical/logical(not
necessarily arithmetic) abilities._

That's because I learn to program. If people learn to program, they'll be more
"mathematical/logical" too. I am "brilliant" through hard work and curiosity,
not because I have high IQ.

 _Just because you find the calculations tedious does not mean that most
people don't benefit from them._

I meant we humans suck at calculation. We are not like computers that can
follow steps perfectly. Even when we know the steps, we often get the answer
wrong due to our mistakes in following the steps.

 _From what I recall, most people forget a concept that they are exposed to
once and only once._

What make you think it doesn't apply to me or to the rest of people on hacker
news?

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georgieporgie
I find it extremely difficult to read that font.

~~~
13rules
<https://www.readability.com/articles/jaxpl15i>

