{"id":47851,"date":"2014-12-09T10:50:36","date_gmt":"2014-12-09T15:50:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/?p=47851"},"modified":"2014-12-15T13:11:12","modified_gmt":"2014-12-15T18:11:12","slug":"reflections-on-hour-of-code-and-other-programming-related-items","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/danielschristian.com\/learning-ecosystems\/2014\/12\/09\/reflections-on-hour-of-code-and-other-programming-related-items\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflections on ” Hour of Code” and other programming-related items"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hour of Code<\/strong><\/a> — also see #HourOfCode on Twitter<\/a><\/p>\n

\"HourOfCode2014\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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Programming for Students<\/a><\/strong> — Listly by Jon Samuelson
\nHere is a list of apps and sites to help kids get started programming, learning code, in elementary school and beyond.<\/em><\/p>\n

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First take: Apple\u2019s Swift speeds programming<\/a><\/strong> — from gcn.com by Sean Kosanovich<\/p>\n

Excerpt:<\/em><\/p>\n

Over the summer, Apple introduced a new programming language for creating applications for iOS and OS X devices. As the first alternative to Objective-C, which has powered Apple application development since the mid-1990s, the debut of Swift is a noteworthy event. In a nutshell, Swift is designed to simplify development while enabling more responsive and robust applications.<\/p>\n

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\"swift\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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The World’s Largest iOS 8 + Swift eLearning Bootcamp<\/strong><\/a> — from deals.cultofmac.com
\nBuild 70+ apps throughout the 80 hours of content in 24 in-depth courses<\/em><\/p>\n

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From DSC:<\/em><\/span>
\nThere’s been a lot of conversation, debate, and questioning about whether all of our youth should learn to code. While a noble endeavor, I don’t see it working well given most of our current programming languages. Most of our programming languages use syntax\/methods\/constructs that many of us normally don’t think in terms of; that is, it’s a different way of thinking that doesn’t come naturally for many of us.<\/strong><\/em> One only needs to look at the salaries for software developers\/web developers\/programmers to see that they are paid pretty well. Why? Because it’s definitely not for everyone and the salaries encourage people to go down that path.
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So if we are going to go down the path that says that all youth should learn how to code, then we will need much easier-to-work with tools and programming languages…easier to create something quickly…easier to understand.\u00a0 I don’t know enough about Apple’s Swift programming language, but it seems to be a step in the right direction.\u00a0 But again, my guess is that even Swift doesn’t go far enough for the majority of us to pick it up.<\/span><\/p>\n

Finally,<\/span> The World’s Largest iOS 8 + Swift eLearning Bootcamp<\/a> item made me reflect upon the need for institutions of traditional higher education to keep their curricula up to date. We need to be responsive to market needs – otherwise, these types of alternatives can become a real threat.\u00a0 Though not an easy task, we need to ask: “Are we being responsive enough with our course offerings? Are such alternatives going to represent a significant way that many people obtain skills in a shorter amount of time?”
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Addendum on 12\/11\/14:<\/em><\/p>\n