As I recall from the 1980's, there are two types of people in the world, programmers and victims.
I think Atwood's point is valid in so far as the world probably doesn't need politicians coding the software by which government services are provided. Nor do we need everyone writing their own web pages, one GeoCities was enough.
On the other hand, it seems to me that programming is going to increasingly be seen as a part of basic mathematical literacy. It's just a whole lot easier to solve a layered arithmetical problem with javascript than with a conventional calculator.
In other words, most people should try to learn the lightweight scripting which allows for better exploitation of all the computing tools.
I think Atwood's point is valid in so far as the world probably doesn't need politicians coding the software by which government services are provided. Nor do we need everyone writing their own web pages, one GeoCities was enough.
On the other hand, it seems to me that programming is going to increasingly be seen as a part of basic mathematical literacy. It's just a whole lot easier to solve a layered arithmetical problem with javascript than with a conventional calculator.
In other words, most people should try to learn the lightweight scripting which allows for better exploitation of all the computing tools.