Fortune Favors The Bold

upsider:

Mike Bloomberg Is A Smart Businessman, That’s Why He’s Learning To Code

I am obsessed with Codecademy, a new startup that teaches newbies to program with a set of simple lessons for free. This Fast Company co.exist piece by the company’s co-founder shows why learning to program is probably the best use of your free time.

I’ve always dabbled with HTML and CSS, but am loving learning JavaScript with Codecademy’s easy lessons so far. Such a fantastic idea for a startup.

The idea is GREAT but it badly needs more material.

I’ve gone through the whole set of tutorials. Took me 10 minutes because I’m a CompSci grad. The stuff that’s on there right now will teach you the fundamentals of procedural programming. It’s basically the intro course I got to skip when I entered my CS curriculum. That’s not nearly enough knowledge in there for anyone to get to the point where they could make useful code for web applications.

It’s not impossible to cover that gap; they would just need to put a lot more stuff on there covering a deeper reach of topics - and they could really use some community help in developing that.

Of course, part of the problem with modern programming is that the toolsets (for practical applications) are deliberately made to be complex to the point that they’re cumbersome or unintelligible for anyone who’s not a laser-focused genius. Even the simplest iPhone app requires complex knowledge (not to mention pricey hardware prerequisites) that would scare almost anyone away, even a dedicated tinkerer. That WILL change, sooner or later, because it must. 

(I really should be teaching one of these classes… I’ve got nothing better to do at the moment anyway.)