Learnable Programming. Here's a trick question: How do we get people to understand programming? Khan Academy recently launched an online environment for learning to program. It offers a set of tutorials based on the JavaScript and Processing languages, and features a "live coding" environment, where the program's output updates as the programmer types. Because my work was cited as an inspiration for the Khan system, I felt I should respond with two thoughts about learning: Programming is a way of thinking, not a rote skill. Learning about "for" loops is not learning to program, any more than learning about pencils is learning to draw.People understand what they can see. Thus, the goals of a programming system should be: to support and encourage powerful ways of thinkingto enable programmers to see and understand the execution of their programs A live-coding Processing environment addresses neither of these goals.
Alan Perlis wrote, "To understand a program, you must become both the machine and the program. " What is the best comment in source code you have ever encountered? Rands In Repose. Fred Hates It. Management has a set of power words that it’s appropriated as a means of giving it a sense of identity. This list is endless and entertaining. When these words are spoken, they are said in such a way that you are meant to wonder in awe, “What does that mean?” But you don’t ask for fear of looking like an idiot. Today’s word: off-site. An off-site is a… meeting. There are some specific characteristics to an off-site, but all it is a meeting with a group of people that likely lives up to its name in that it’s elsewhere, it’s off-site. Now that you understand what it is, let’s understand why you might hate it. Why I Get in Fred’s Face The reason an off-site exists is simple: you, the leader of the people, need certain essential work to occur that cannot easily occur now under normal conditions within the building.
So you got in Fred’s face. Zeitgeist has become diluted. You need a well designed off-site. Who We Are, What We Need, and Our Epic Journey We need to understand who we are. Coding Horror. The Daily WTF: Curious Perversions in Information Technology. Manifesto for Minimalist Software Engineers | Minifesto.org.