
Apple’s free coding classes are a sales engagement - sirduncan
http://sdtimes.com/sd-times-blog-apples-free-coding-classes-sales-engagement/
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slantaclaus
"The problem is that computer science education is obscenely expensive" \--
No, its not. In fact if you're really smart it's free

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adyus
"The problem is that being really smart is obscenely expensive" \- or depends
on luck in the genetic and family environment lotteries.

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jshevek
> Yes, the classes are free, but they require the use of a US$600 tablet. Your
> kids can learn about Swift inside the doors of an Apple store, but what
> happens when they get home?

This blog post is a great and much needed critique. Apple's classes seem like
little more than an attempt to create and build brand loyalty and to increase
sales.

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projectramo
Okay, at this age, I don't think we should worry about kids being tied to one
platform.

In 10 years we don't know what language or platform is going to dominate, let
alone by the time kids grow up.

The point is to learn any language to get some basic concepts down and then
branch out.

Many people on this forum probably cut their teeth on Commodore 64 Basic but
we're not laughing at them for platform lock in.

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hanginghyena
The real irony here is a rant against commercialism that is published on a
page with no less than 11 display ads and a "related content" unit....

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technofiend
>There is absolutely no altruism in Apple’s free kids programming classes.
They are a sales engagement.

That's about as ranty as it gets but that's probably what he means.

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jshevek
When does concisely articulating an obvious conclusion become a rant? What
makes it a rant? Is it the fact that you disagree? Or the fact that he uses
the word "absolutely" ?

From the information available to me, it appears to me that there is
absolutely no altruism in Apple's programming classes.

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technofiend
I didn't actually state it was a rant, only that the quoted statement was
about as close to a rant as I could find. Personally I didn't find it to be a
rant either.

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jshevek
Oh, I apologize. When you said "That's about as X as it gets" I thought you
were using the common US idiom conveying an extreme degree of X. (I usually
make this mistake in the opposite direction, misunderstanding an idiom by
taking it literally, rather than mistaking literal writing for an idiom)

