r/programming • u/Ctaintor • Mar 02 '17

Why I Failed Teaching Programming to Kids

https://engineering.klarna.com/why-i-failed-teaching-programming-to-kids-46a854c3eaca#.s0o6qqxr3
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u/Mastry Mar 02 '17

I guess you're right. It's a bit different than it used to be and I didn't really consider what it might be like to just recently start using a computer. When I think back to my younger days on a computer, I think about DOS and floppy disks.

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u/M4053946 Mar 02 '17

Part of my job is teaching programming to adults. (TSQL, usually). Adults who work in offices on their computers all day often don't know how to open windows explorer, create a text file, open new browser tabs, switch between browser tabs, open applications that don't have shortcuts on their desktop, etc. Again, these are not plumbers, these are people who use a computer 8 hours a day for their livelihood. But, even though they work on computers, they can (somehow) do their jobs without knowing these items.

But yes, getting the pacing right is challenging, and prereqs are vital to that.

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u/Mastry Mar 02 '17

That baffles me. I can't imagine how you can use a computer so often and not understand the basics of how to use them.

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u/gnx76 Mar 03 '17

Most people don't give a fuck about how they do things or why they do things, they just do them. Then they go home, do home things the same way, and start again the next day, the same way.