Coding is hard like math, and I dislike math. Both are time consuming, confusing, and one small error could mean a completely wrong outcome. When I get it right, though, I feel like the smartest person in the world with 1,000 IQ. Now, if I were condemn a whole major of humanities students to code, I don’t think so. Matthew G. Kirschenbaum makes valid points for programing, such as fundamentals, problem-solving, overall code and procedural literacy, and creating a model of the world around us. However, I’ve heard something along the lines of this thinking from every math and science teacher I’ve come across. While coding can be seen as creating a model of the world around us, so too could every field of study such as calculus, chemistry, psychology, and so on. The logical and analytical skills gained from coding are no doubt useful, but can be gained from other sources, as well.
Evan Donahue’s response post agrees, writing, “While programming will indeed usefully equip one better to understand computer scientific discourses, it should NOT be taken as the necessary precondition to engaging with the computer sciences…students should learn to program, but they should not let their inability to program prevent them from engaging with the computer sciences.” I wholeheartedly agree with the avoidable aspect of programming. Students can still interact with and benefit from computer sciences without the absolute need to code as a prerequisite. Some students may also lack the resources or environment to allow learning programming. Requiring learning certain unnecessary skills can also be draining for students who didn’t have a passion for code to begin with, pushing them further away from programming. It’s like when you might’ve been thinking about needing to do your laundry, but then your mom tells you to do your laundry, and now you don’t want to do it anymore after being ordered, rather than by choice (totally not speaking from experience btw).
Although there were many frustrations in my own attempts at HTML/CSS, I am thoroughly pleased with my outcome. There are still some ways I could enhance the look, but just getting the basics down was satisfying enough. While I don’t consider myself a programmer in the slightest, being able to see tangible creations from my hard work makes me understand programmers a bit more. Plus, I love customization and adding fun fonts and colors.
WOOOOWOWOWOW