While ChildAge < 20 do

     Child.Knowledge.Add( BasicCodingSkills )

     Child.Experience.Add( ProgrammingConcepts)

End While

When computers became common place, there was a sharp divide between the people involved.  The largest group were the coders (although they may have thought of themselves as chemists, engineers, biologists, physicists, etc.)  These early users knew that the power of computing was ripe for their chosen professions.  However, rather than shop for software, they wrote their own.  They had to do so, as simple applications, of the type on which we’ve become so reliant over the past 20 years, did not yet provide enough variety for scientific fields. 

In these early days, it was hard, if not impossible, to distinguish between the computer scientists (those involved with the noble goal of improving computing for all) and the rest of the scientific community, who just needed to get their work done.  For the latter group, innovation was born from necessity.  For the former, necessity was born from innovation.  I’m borrowing this idea from Jared Diamond’s oft-quoted work “Guns Germs and Steel” – a highly recommended read.  This isn’t to say that computer scientists were not trying to satisfy a necessity.  Instead, I’m trying to emphasize that in other fields, innovation occurred with specific applications in mind, rather than for the general improvement of existing technology (keep this in mind – it’s an important point).

As computers became more common-place, the field of computer science received more dedicated minds, full-time innovators for a rapidly growing industry.  At the same time, many more users entered the picture.  The software industry shifted as the larger population became the end-users, who expected software to be available for their own diverse fields.

At this point, you may wonder what happened to the coders of the previous era who were not computer scientists?  Did they just fade away unemployed and without useful skills in this new and exciting time?  Of course not!  They became the vendors of their old innovations.  Now few people needed to delve into the details of the code as those who already done the heavy lifting were selling their solutions!  (One example is Gaussian – an application that I used in college that was developed out of necessity by some physicists and chemists during the 80’s and now retails for a pretty impressive price tag)  The important point here is that no one was out of work – there was just a shift in titles and the need moved from one group to another.

So what is my point?  Why does my kid need to learn to program?  The balance has obviously shifted away from programming… Hasn’t it? I would argue not… keep reading.

In the 90’s, we had achieved a certain comfort level with our machines and we could now buckle down and create real content… There was no need to be a coder, as standard tools requiring no code had sprouted for almost everything and the combination of Windows & Mac OS made it all look pretty.  Unfortunately, there was a problem – our content needed to be formatted and edited in new and inventive ways.  It turns out that the prepackaged stuff just wasn’t cutting it, so we came up with formats for the web and for print to improve things (see my article on PDFs for another example). 

You see the cycle here?  The people who took us to the next step were the graphic designers and artists of the world who found the web created by computer scientists to be ugly and boring.  It didn’t do what they wanted it to do.  Those who could do their own jobs (for example graphic design) AND write code worked on a  solution (or at least in close partnership with traditional coders).  Knowing how to write or even just understand code put these people at the forefront of their industries and created some very exciting steps forward for the web and print.

The same is true in the new millennium.  CSS is a new(ish) way of coding websites that was designed with tons of input from graphic designers.  Moreover, it’s improvements since it’s inception have been suggested by the people using it.  You want to make a stunning website?  You have to know how to use CSS.  CSS is code – there is no way around it. 

Here, at the entirely the wrong place in this article, is my thesis:  Your kids, no matter what they do, will do it better if they can understand a bit of code.  They don’t have to be computer scientists – we have those – but they do have be logical and practical problem solvers who understand today’s tools.  Kids who learn to code are going to rule the future and I can’t even tell you what the next innovative step will be.

~ab

Links for your kiddies…

Microsoft Small Basic

Microsoft Popfly

Kaboose Kids Domain

Kids Can Program too!