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Read other letters about this article
First off, I am FLOORED that there are so many comments on this article, and so many Editor's Choice letters. Amazing.
My Dad wouldn't let us have an Atari, he insisted on an Apple II. He hooked up to an old TV and traded games and programs on tape with his brothers.
If my brothers or I wanted to play Space Invaders or Castle Wolfenstein, etc. we had to earn our game time by spending a half hour using a typing tutor program, or writing BASIC code. A half hour traded for an hour of game time, so I spent a good part of my pre-teen years writing double-entendre laden Mad Lib progams using variables.
I didn't grow up to be a programmer, I'm a graphic designer, but that introduction to logical thinking has made me very adept at decoding PostScript printing conflicts. It helped me learn HTML, CSS and PHP. It helped me think like the computer.
When I went to art school we were taught that you had to know the rules before you can break them. How will our new generation of programmers develop innovative new products if they don't understand the "basics?"
and as a postscript of sorts, my son, who is 11, doesn't program, but he can change a tire, check the oil and jump start our old Toyota if need be. He also knows the difference between RGB and CMYK. Teach your children well.
