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Tech Tuesday, January 22nd 2013 at 7:45 pm

Code.org Says “Hello, World” to Get Everybody Coding

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Computer science is one of the fastest growing fields out there, but its growth is outpacing the number of young people studying it. One projection says that by the year 2020 there will be 1,000,000 more computer science jobs than computer science students. That’s a huge disparity. The new site Code.org launched today to try to change that by helping grow computer programming education in the United States. It seems like their plan is to make coding seem cool so more young people will learn how to do it. Where do we sign up?

Code.org is headed up by brothers Hadi and Ali Partovi, who served as early investors and advisors for startups like Facebook and Dropbox. They’re joined by a few other notable members on the team including Google engineer Phil Bogle and Waiting for Superman producer Lesley Chilcott.

The front page of Code.org has a quote from Steve Jobs saying “I think everybody in this country should learn how to program a computer — because it teaches you how to think.” It also lays out in an infographic what they see as the problem:

Part of Code.org’s strategy is to release a video to send to classrooms to get them excited about learning how to code. That seems like it could be a challenge, but anyone who has seen Waiting for Superman knows that Chilcott can make education pretty riveting. To add to the appeal of the video, Code.org is supposedly trying to get some big names involved. TechCrunch is reporting that Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates could make appearances.

The video will be available to more than 500,000 classrooms, and Code.org hopes to get that number even higher by the time the video is ready. They’re asking educators to register their classes and schools.

One point that Code.org is trying to make is that programming isn’t just for professional programmers. Like the Steve Jobs quote, they think everyone can benefit from knowing a little bit of code. Knowledge of programming and computer science can help in a range of jobs.

Think of every time someone you know told you they had a great idea for app, but didn’t know where to even begin to try to develop one. If computer science was taught to every student like math or reading then almost everyone would have the tools to at least know where to start. I’m not a programmer, but the limited HTML I do know has helped more than a few times as a blogger.

Maybe instead of teaching young children to write in cursive — a skill nobody needs — they should be taught some basic programming concepts. At least teach them to push a turtle around a screen with LOGO.

You can go to Code.org to learn more about the project, donate, or even sign up class if you’re an educator.

(Code.org via TechCrunch, image via t0msk)

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  • Anonymous

    The real reason why growth outpaces actual qualified people? Woman. Specifically their dismissal of the field for other fields that won’t get them anywhere in life such as psychology. I got a degree in comp sci a couple of years ago and the classroom always had 28 guys and 2 girls and both girls always were from Asian countries. Wake up woman an excellent field is blowing you by. Many companies would love to hire woman coders to show how gender neutral they are.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Bruce-E-Screws-Jr/5200506 Bruce E. Screws Jr.

    Any recommendations for someone interested in learning programming to start?

  • Jack Bond

    Well that makes me even more confident about my major. I have to admit, I was a little concerned that the IS and CE students would get a leg up on me, but if these stats are to be trusted, I should have nothing to worry about.

  • Anonymous

    If you can learn C++ well and understand it you can pick up any other language quickly and easily.

  • Enthusiast

    OK, so the job market is affected by supply and demand. As the supply of qualified programmers increases, the average pay of programmers decreases. I have a vested interest in NOT encouraging people to become coders. Also, this isn’t a skill you can learn, like fixing a car or brain surgery. Coding is a talent. Can’t teach talent.

  • Enthusiast

    OK, so the job market is affected by supply and demand. As the supply of qualified programmers increases, the average pay of programmers decreases. I have a vested interest in NOT encouraging people to become coders. Also, this isn’t a skill you can learn, like fixing a car or brain surgery. Coding is a talent. Can’t teach talent.

  • Enthusiast

    I have found that C++ is so arcane that it hinders the learning of proper coding technique. I’d recommend C#, then you can learn C++ (if for some perverse reason you want to code for something other than Windows), which is a close ancestor.

  • Enthusiast

    I have found that C++ is so arcane that it hinders the learning of proper coding technique. I’d recommend C#, then you can learn C++ (if for some perverse reason you want to code for something other than Windows), which is a close ancestor.

  • ProductArchitect

    Learn Python. It’s the same ‘family’ as C/C++/C#/Java but much easier — and still widely respected by professional programmers. (It’s now the first language taught at MIT.) Or learn JavaScript: an ugly language (IMHO; others disagree of course) but very practical since it runs in the browser.

  • http://geekosystem.com/ Glen Tickle

    Someone can absolutely be talented at coding, but I don’t agree that it can’t be taught. Teaching a computer language is like teaching any language. Just because you know a language doesn’t mean you can write poetry in it.

  • Anonymous

    I do a lot of my coding in UNIX it’s very common. C++ is arcane but that is why I feel it’s a good starting place. Java has a lot of shortcuts and a different way of handling pointers then C++ does. C++ helps you make mistakes and then learn why those mistakes are bad and how to fix them.

  • Anonymous

    If someone is going to downvote I’d like them to say why. Is what I am saying wrong?

  • Enthusiast

    Meh, Maybe I’ve been burned by too many projects started by people who just knew the skill of writing code and didn’t have the talent to make the code do more than ‘just work’. Maybe you can take the average joe off the street, teach him syntax and patterns and make a passable coder out of him. In my experience, though, people without the talent to code create big sloppy messes (as you’d expect someone with little experience to) and never move from the big sloppy mess stage. And then there are also people that know the core coding concepts and can’t ever wrap their head around how to use it properly and create bug-laden code that reminds you of a late-stage game of Jenga when you try to modify it. Sadly, I have seen more people who are able to write code that simply can’t code than those who can write elegant, extendable, reusable and maintainable code.

  • abuzar hamza

    any body notice the volunteer form does not mention “c” independently