tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4343773643758367735.post3945355160721811517..comments2023-10-29T11:15:37.625-04:00Comments on sleeping alone and starting out early: SparkCBC takes on the issue of computational literacyJenna McWilliamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07767988531102621970noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4343773643758367735.post-77640170324814842752010-03-24T08:54:52.961-04:002010-03-24T08:54:52.961-04:00What I learned of Fortan and Basic in a bygone day...What I learned of Fortan and Basic in a bygone day was useful to help me understand the ideas behind computer languages which is a useful thing.<br />My time with COBOL one Summer was less productive.<br /><br />When I learned Logo, years ago, I enjoyed making diagrams. I still use Logo to make string-art today.<br /><br />I'm intrigued by the way that literacy in one language as a quick tool to a job can be a focus in some quarters, when history shows that it's literacy in a way of thinking about computers that may be more important.Gurdonarkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14808311825546186934noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4343773643758367735.post-59973877636235128432010-03-24T08:19:31.128-04:002010-03-24T08:19:31.128-04:00This is interesting. I wonder if you have any thou...This is interesting. I wonder if you have any thoughts on how your intro to Fortran has shaped your current attitude toward technologies. Given that the specific training is useless, were there any features of that education that helped (or hindered) you in working with newer technologies, tools, and programming languages?Jenna McWilliamshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07767988531102621970noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4343773643758367735.post-70677926878169960502010-03-24T07:25:45.552-04:002010-03-24T07:25:45.552-04:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.marryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17811643324748313696noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4343773643758367735.post-474222561367145892010-03-24T03:18:21.955-04:002010-03-24T03:18:21.955-04:00Thanks for a thought-provoking post.
In 1975, whe...Thanks for a thought-provoking post.<br /><br />In 1975, when a science camp for physics folks introduced me to Fortran programming, we all lived in a science fiction world in which everyone assumed that knowledge of computer languages was a key skill, as essential as French in Paris. The debate then was more along the line of whether Fortran or Cobol was enough, or whether we in fact needed to know assembler or machine language. Then, when the PC and the IIe (and then the Mac) came along, they succeeded only when they removed the need for the consumer to speak Basic or C or any code at all. My view is that the iPad is not apt to succeed, but the notion of computers-as-apps rather than computers-as-code is here to stay.<br />What is intriguing about the "cloud' is not its "cloudiness" so much as the way it envisions computer use as apps liberated even from the CPU.<br /><br />Yet both "computational literacy' and "hardware/electronics" literacy are nonetheless important skills to be taught. They will define the difference between a future of megalithic manufacturers and a future in which small business will create apps and programs and games. They will define whether the cloud is a huge corporate parking lot, or <br />a place with "localvore' consumers of apps, buying apps from "localfarm" creators of computers and apps. <br /><br />This is why funding community colleges, extension courses, state universities, and primary/secondary computer use is so essential.<br />Logo, Ruby, C #, integrated circuits, the whole panoply. We can create a future of literate users and capable small businesses, and this is the sustainable future we want to have.Gurdonarkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14808311825546186934noreply@blogger.com