On Sun, 15 Jul 2012, Iian Neill wrote: > Ivan, > > I have some hope for projects like the Raspberry Pi computer, which aims > to replicate the 'homebrew' computing experience of the BBC Micro in > Britain in the 1980s. Of course, hardware is only part of the equation > -- even versatile hardware that encourages electronic tinkering -- and > the languages and software that are bundled with the Pi will be key. > > Education is ultimately the answer, but what kind of education? Our > computer science education is itself a product of our preconceptions of > the field of computing, and to some degree fails to bridge the divide > between the highly skilled technocratic elite and the personal computer > consumer. The history of home computing in the Eighties shows the power > of cheap hardware and practically 'bare metal' systems that are > conceptually graspable. And I suspect the fact that BASIC was an > interpreted language had a lot to do with fostering experimentation & > play. > > Imagine if some variant of Logo had been built in, that allowed access > to the machine code subroutines in the way BASIC did...
I share your sentiment, even to the point of longing for home'puter with Logo in ROM. But I don't share all of your views. As I had been able to witness "80-ties home'puter craze" (and take part in it), my experience from this time makes me guess that programming was not all the rage - but gaming was. So, it was about consumption from the beginning of commercial home'puter (i.e., the days of ZX81 and Spectrum - perhaps it was different in the days of Altair). Only some percentage of us teens was interested in programming. Of those, majority ended adventure after not very long - there was not magic for them, or maybe they didn't know what to do with a computer once they learned how to make simple programs. Obviously, Basic didn't help much with expressing more complicated ideas, but frankly, I doubt any other language would change this. Well, natural language, maybe :-) . And even then, there would have been a lot of dissapointment, simply because so many people have so much problems with spelling their minds precisely (not to forget about making minds first, before they are ready for spelling). My guess is, this is about genetics. Your guesses and mileage may vary. I used to believe everybody can learn to program but I don't anymore. Even if this is only about upbringing (I doubt, but maybe), the main point is, where there is no need, there is no will either. And without will, no persistence, so learning slows and stops. Oh, I mean, yes, everybody can learn to program, but how many have any kind of their own ideas for their own programs? Of all Lego (ab)users, how many build their own constructs while the rest is content with copying stuff? Of all literate humans, how many have something interesting to say, worthy of saving on a piece of paper? I think these are many facets of the same thing. I am unwilling to name the thing yet, afraid this would be like nailing bird alive to the wall. Premature optimisation - other birds, on seeing such thing, fly away. I'd rather wait and see, maybe I can spot more birds in a room. And have a nailing gun. :-) BTW, there are many more affordable computers nowadays. Some of those, called cell phones, win chess tournaments from time to time. There is really nothing standing in the way of individual who would want to build a simple environment for end user, thus giving him (end user) ability to program much better than it was 30 years ago. Oh, wait. Do I smell Basic interpreter for cellphones? Crap. May the history forgive me for mentioning abomination aloud. Actually, Python is simple enough to learn quickly. It is not my main lang anymore, but I try to retain some knowledge of it and I consider it ideal for casual/weekend programmer. Sooo... there are Python implementations for many environments, but still... not so many programmers... sooo... I'm afraid I am right (and not very happy about this). Regards, Tomasz Rola -- ** A C programmer asked whether computer had Buddha's nature. ** ** As the answer, master did "rm -rif" on the programmer's home ** ** directory. And then the C programmer became enlightened... ** ** ** ** Tomasz Rola mailto:[email protected] ** _______________________________________________ fonc mailing list [email protected] http://vpri.org/mailman/listinfo/fonc
