Lets be honest. Learning the basics (assignment statements, integers vs strings, simple math) is easy. Putting those into practiceto make something useful is hard as fuck.
A perfect example is the google.com source code. Thats just frightening for the average hobbyist to look at, but if we tell people how hard it really is no one will be interested.
You are absolutely right. I think the real point of article was that we shouldn't so gratuitously use words like "easy" or even "hard" (even though I think the author uses that one) when it comes to the valid idea that programming is not magic and you don't need to be gifted to be at least mildly successful provided you're willing to work just as hard at as anything else worth doing.
While the basics are, well, basic, I'm sure you can agree that even doing some simple tasks using only non-nuanced "basic" concepts like the ones you mentioned can be a non-trivial task for the less-than-expert. And this is just with the basics. But selling real programming to newbies as something "easy" (as opposed to be being a little more realistic with how challenging it can be) is a pretty good way to make sure they get frustrated and want to do something more gratifying instead.
Sigh... part of the problem involves industry washouts/burnouts trying to sell you shit (90%+ of coding "bootcamps", I'm looking@u) while their skillset is still somewhat relevant, and part of the problem involves just how much bad learning material is out there. The well has been poisoned long ago, and there's too much money to be made keeping things that way.
Learning to code seems pretty easy to me. Most of the students in my college learned the basics of C in a few weeks, and were writing Java programs not long after. There were people who legitimately struggled and one student who failed repeatedly. Tried to help that guy for weeks, but he just couldn't even memorize a simple hello.c for some reason. Strangely enough, he was great with circuits and math.
17 comments
8 u/new_name 19 Jun 2016 23:23
Some people just don't think like a programmer.
4 u/Genghis_Khan [OP] 19 Jun 2016 23:32
This sounds a lot like another thing I find myself telling people.
1 u/tame 20 Jun 2016 07:09
s/some/almost all/g
0 u/Nokilter 22 Jun 2016 18:05
You phrased that like it's something that cannot be learned unless your born with it.
4 u/kltpzyxm 19 Jun 2016 19:12
Lets be honest. Learning the basics (assignment statements, integers vs strings, simple math) is easy. Putting those into practiceto make something useful is hard as fuck.
A perfect example is the google.com source code. Thats just frightening for the average hobbyist to look at, but if we tell people how hard it really is no one will be interested.
2 u/Genghis_Khan [OP] 19 Jun 2016 19:24
You are absolutely right. I think the real point of article was that we shouldn't so gratuitously use words like "easy" or even "hard" (even though I think the author uses that one) when it comes to the valid idea that programming is not magic and you don't need to be gifted to be at least mildly successful provided you're willing to work just as hard at as anything else worth doing.
While the basics are, well, basic, I'm sure you can agree that even doing some simple tasks using only non-nuanced "basic" concepts like the ones you mentioned can be a non-trivial task for the less-than-expert. And this is just with the basics. But selling real programming to newbies as something "easy" (as opposed to be being a little more realistic with how challenging it can be) is a pretty good way to make sure they get frustrated and want to do something more gratifying instead.
2 u/GainsGoblinGoebbels 20 Jun 2016 08:38
Sigh... part of the problem involves industry washouts/burnouts trying to sell you shit (90%+ of coding "bootcamps", I'm looking@u) while their skillset is still somewhat relevant, and part of the problem involves just how much bad learning material is out there. The well has been poisoned long ago, and there's too much money to be made keeping things that way.
2 u/Vvswiftvv17 20 Jun 2016 13:45
Lots of programmers getting butthurt when they realize grade schoolers are being taught, and can do well, their job. Everyone is replaceable boys.
0 u/TheDude2 20 Jun 2016 15:34
Natural progression.
0 u/Josemaria 20 Jun 2016 16:42
Bullshit.
Paul walker is dead.
Forever.
0 u/totes_magotes 20 Jun 2016 13:17
Shifting your thought paradigm to what is necessary for programming is one of the hardest things you can try to do. A lot of people don't get that.
0 u/effusive_ermine 20 Jun 2016 16:31
Learning to code seems pretty easy to me. Most of the students in my college learned the basics of C in a few weeks, and were writing Java programs not long after. There were people who legitimately struggled and one student who failed repeatedly. Tried to help that guy for weeks, but he just couldn't even memorize a simple hello.c for some reason. Strangely enough, he was great with circuits and math.
0 u/JordanTShackelford 30 Jun 2016 08:59
I don't think I've ever heard anyone say that programming is easy
-1 u/DrBunsen 20 Jun 2016 13:27
Hmmm, I have never seen a woman that is good at coding.
And learning to code is easy. The harder part is the big projects, where you have to plan.
-1 u/TheDude2 20 Jun 2016 13:27
Some day programming will be simple. The only reason a lot of it is hard now is because nerds want to keep it that way.