[LINK] Let's pause before drinking the 'coding in schools' Kool-Aid

[David Lochrin]

On 2015-06-05 11:11 JanW  wrote:

> At 11:00 AM 5/06/2015, Bernard Robertson-Dunn wrote:
>>Arguing somewhat against my suggestion that STEM is the way to go, I suggest that the most important skill is "critical thinking".
> 
> Yep, I agree with that. It's another level higher again in the hierarchy of 'skills'.
> 
> Creativity is another at that level.

I strongly agree that critical thinking is easily the most important thing in the scheme of things.  Unfortunately advertising and the media generally, with some exceptions, encourage people to think as uncritically as possible.  Critical thinking would soon lead to better pollies!!

I doubt one can teach true creativity, or learn it through practice as James Arvanitakis seems to suggest.  However "creativity" and "lateral thinking" seem to overlap a little, and perhaps habits of lateral thinking might be acquired.

But back on the subject of "coding", software these days isn't "coded" the way it once was.  Any serious project would use an integrated development environment (IDE) which supports reusable libraries, version control, automated module testing, and program documentation using tools such as JavaDoc.  Databases can be designed graphically and the SQL compiled using UML-based tools.

This all leads to more reliable and maintainable software, with more emphasis on the big picture and less on code puzzle solving.


On 2015-06-03 23:12 Bernard Robertson wrote:

> The knowledge and expertise I acquired on such things as the 8088, 8086, 80286, 80386 etc microprocessors, IBM and Univac mainframes [...] are useless and irrelevant in today's technology environments.

Did you ever learn the boot sequence which had to be keyed in to those neon-light register switches on the front panel of a Univac 418 (:-)?

David :L.