Aaah the nostalgia. I also have some machine level cred, and used switches to store the bootstrap loader for a 1970s Data General Nova... aaah. But in the context of K-10 school level education and in 2015 the term "coding" has come to mean something a lot simpler than what computing pioneers did. Neither is it programming or software development with an IDE. Much of coding is in simple algorithms using sequencing, conditionals, and repetition, over simple numbers, arrays, and turtle graphics or the equivalent, and the "code" is often constructed and expressed graphically, in toy sandpit environments. The idea is that "coding" in school is introductory in nature, having a similar relationship to professional programming and software development as the school-level subject of mathematics - arithmetic and elementary algebra - have to the mathematics of calculus, linear algebra, formal algebraic theory or computational methods. The goal of having coding in the school curriculum is that by learning to use and create simple algorithms, and by manipulating data representing measurements of other things being studied in school, children get some of the notions of computational thinking. This has the hope of implanting an awareness of computing that involves some notions of processes, data and communications networks, beyond the almost pure magical explanations that a second or third generation digital native otherwise gleans from using consumer devices and services.
Chris Johnson MACS CP _______________________________________________ Link mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link
