A Journey into the Minds of Silicon Valley Programmers (Book Review)

It's a bit disappointing that the article (and presumably the book?) is filled with schadenfreude, and also misses the mark: no one is saying that coal miners can't learn Javascript (well, ok, I suppose some misguided people are probably saying that). But what people are saying (which is IMO correct) is that you can't take someone with no programming knowledge, give them a 3-month programming course, and expect them to be able to build large software systems independently, in a readable, maintainable, scalable, robust manner. (Just as I wouldn't expect to be able to take a 3-month course on house-building and then immediately build a great, modern house.)

I'll never claim that my profession is some sort of high-art magic that only the select few can participate in. But it is just like any other skilled endeavor in that it requires practice, experience, opportunity, and a bit of talent to become really good and long-term successful. Saying that coal miners can be taught to program is not only a "duh" statement, it's also missing the point.

"Despite the mystique, coding is not an art."

I would think it is much more of an art than writing magazine articles. Anyone can be taught to write book-reviews, even coal-miners.

Coding is like making new calculations per each new program. Sure everybody with reasonable intellect can be taught to do that. But it's still an art. Not everybody wants to do that. You need some inclination.

But I guess what the author is saying is that he was "mystified" by what is coding before and is not so mystified anymore having been explained how it works.

Book sounds interesting. Democratization of programming knowledge can only benefit us in the long run