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Should everyone learn to code?

mco.dev · 360 words · saved by 1 readers

I just read this article: Programming is Hard. I agree with several points made therein, but I have a different way of explaining how hard it is to be a programmer. I like to ask, by analogy, how hard is it to learn to play piano? The answer depends on your goals: Learning the basics and writing toy applications is easy, like learning to play Mary had a Little Lamb with one hand. Becoming a professional programmer who builds robust real world applications is hard. It takes years of work, just as becoming a professional pianist takes years of dedication and practice. Most programmers live somewhere between those two extremes - able to enjoy coding and creating small to medium sized programs that solve interesting problems that give them a sense of accomplishment, just as many piano players have enough skill to enjoy making music. So here’s my advice whenever someone asks “should I learn to code?": If it sounds fun to you, go for it! If you find that it’s not for you, you’ll at least gai

I just read this article: Programming is Hard . I agree with several points made therein, but I have a different way of explaining how hard it is to be a programmer. I like to ask, by analogy, how hard is it to learn to play piano? The answer depends on your goals: Learning the basics and writing toy applications is easy, like learning to play Mary had a Little Lamb with one hand. Becoming a professional programmer who builds robust real world applications is hard. It takes years of work, just as becoming a professional pianist takes years of dedication and practice. Most programmers live some

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