Date : Wed, 07 Jul 2010 19:28:02 +0200
From : anders.carlsson@... (Anders Carlsson)
Subject: BBC News - Retro computers: programmable computers
F. Haroon wrote:
> It's a shocking thought that programming might not be not taught in
> schools any more
Surely those students who are interested in computers can take a class in
programming, just that it isn't spoonfed to everyone? I can only speak for
my own education (in Sweden apparently, so it may be different in the UK)
but as far as I remember, we had zero obligatory classes in programming or
even operating a computer. I took them myself rather than studying German or
art, but never was even brief understanding of how a computer works part of
the general education. That relates to a period between 1988-1994.
Besides already when the first Macintosh and IBM PC arrived, people began to
grunt about these don't boot into Basic anymore which makes it a bigger task
to get going with programming. Imagine that, a precursor from 1984
describing the death of broad scale hobbyist programming. Certainly anyone
really interested in programming could obtain environments also on a Mac or
PC, but how would they become interested if the system didn't immerse them
in it from the beginning?
Anyway, I think the web makes a lot of kids interested. Yes, I know HTML is
not "real" programming but those who like to understand how a web page works
will find there is code behind the layout. As they progress, they will find
JavaScripts, server scripts, Flash and so on. It may not be as immediate as
good old 8-bit Basic, but many of our friends just typed in listings without
even thinking twice what each command might do. To them it could just as
well have been runes they entered, as long as the program made any imprint
to the screen.
Best regards
--
Anders Carlsson