Why We Should All Learn a Little Code

Learning to code might be a good idea, but I think the notion that it will be comparable to spanish or other "life skills" in the overseeable time (although fashionable) is wrong.

Normal people will probably never be required to code in their every day life. Good UX and software will make most of those scenarios more userfriendly than writing actual code. If anything I think even programmers are going towards less coding and more tooling & generating.

Neither do I think you should learn coding just because it pays well, you're a girl, there's a demand for programmers or that its easy to learn.

Learn coding because you find it fun, challenging. Because you enjoy learning and creating. Making pure thoughtstuff into reality. Code is one of the few artifacts that is free to ship, duplicate and produce (not counting your time), and there's something magical about that.

I can't judge people who "just needs a paycheck" and learning a little code might be a fun hobby. On the other hand I've seen these "blue-collar" programmers wreak havoc on any project they're on.

Becoming experienced in something demands time, and in order to invest that time you need interest and passion. If you're neither interested nor passionate about programming, why not pursue something that does?

...On the other hand, the day when robots and machines do most of the work, what are we to do? Program the robots until the day they start programming themselves? Perhaps the better bet is to go into culture & entertainment (for or new robotic overlords)

Link without NSFW images:

http://www.onlinecollege.org/Program-or-Be-Programmed

The title is bit deceiving. IMHO there is nothing like "Learn a Little Code". Its like saying 20% prostitute or 5% pregnant. Its either a programmer or not.

"Facebook bought FriendFeed for $47 million and have done nothing with the startup."

Isn't the current activity feed based on what FriendFeed created?

Good infographic, surprising to see that the number of female students in CS has gone down so much.

NSFW ads in that page