That's not what the "learn to code" movement was supposed to be about (though that's what it is about now). What you're suggesting now is again "how to get rich", but in the marketing version instead of webdev one ;). I get why learning how to sell yourself well is important for being (financially) successful, but it does not make you smarter, which was the original point.
Ok I missed that - they seriously want everyone to learn to code because it would make them smarter? No offense, but I think that sounds so arrogant and misguided I am speechless (not meaning you, I mean the movement).
There are plenty of other human activities that also require and train intelligence. I would like to see some actual research on why programming supposedly is more effective in making people smart than other things.
And then personally I would say people should learn some basic maths before learning programming. That would help even more, for example to avoid financial breakdown.
I really thought the movement started because people saw so many "I became a billionaire by programming" stories in the media, and felt that without programming people would end up poor. But for example with design it is much easier to make money on the internet. Just throw together something nice about a current meme and sell a T-Shirt. I don't know how much work designing a T-Shirt is, but I am pretty sure it is less than coding a startup that makes money. Especially, since for a website or app that makes money you'll also need good design, so it is a strict subset of "sell a T-Shirt".
> Ok I missed that - they seriously want everyone to learn to code because it would make them smarter?
No, of course not. That was the idea of initial proponents, but it ended up being "coding is important because it will make your rich" instead.
> No offense, but I think that sounds so arrogant and misguided I am speechless (not meaning you, I mean the movement).
> There are plenty of other human activities that also require and train intelligence. I would like to see some actual research on why programming supposedly is more effective in making people smart than other things.
I'm arguing for that in the top-level comment. Understanding programming gives you another mental tool you can use for thinking, just like arithmetics or calculus. It's a way of thinking that is both relatively new and important thanks to the problems we're facing in the modern world.
I agree. There are a lot of things we should be learning (understanding of finance would be one thing, optimization maths would be another IMO, and maybe if people well taught to understand the behaviour of exponentially growing systems (like self-replicating ones), we wouldn't have so strong an anti-vaxxer movement now).
My point is, I believe programming has very fundamental insights and new models of thinking that are not really related to the syntax of particular language. Insights that let you think of things in terms of computational processes and use that thinking to make stuff do itself. I definitely don't think everyone should be a developer. Just that everyone could use those insights in the complex world we live in today.
