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I wish I could teach a class at the local university on, like, Casual Computer Programming for Normal People. Just a simple introduction to Markdown, Python, notebooks and APIs. Could do the entire thing in Colab. It would empower people. Why don’t they have this already?
Hexagr asked what’s stopping me from becoming a streamer or vlogger. It’s a great point. Maybe I could become a v-tuber so I don’t have to show my face?
Not exactly? Other than executive function, free time, and a willingness to show my face on camera... 😅
— web weaver (@deepfates) July 25, 2021
Part of the fantasy of teaching it at a college is that students, whether young ones or adult heads, could automate a lot of the bullshit work they’re asked to do. And it wouldn’t be some self-selecting online course for people with too much money and free time, just a regular class.
A lot of people think you need to be good at math to do programming, but it’s not really true. Not any more than to use recipes or knitting patterns. Programming is very little about math, and almost entirely about breaking problems into small steps! https://x.com/Daenaeb/status/1419352248178589696?s=19
The other thing about programming is, a lot of that computer science stuff is low-level C code or object-oriented Java monstrosities. But with the advent of prompt engineering, a lot of people’s computer use will be just loading up a model and then typing English into it.
The biggest obstacle, right now, to being able to make AI generated images like this, is knowing how to use Colab without being intimidated. Who doesn’t want that power??
Computer Programming for the Barely Literate
