Comments on: A new generation of developers

By: Sharron Clemons

Sharron Clemons — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 20:22:31 +0000

That’s a terrible idea. Just because it worked on her doesn’t mean it’s universal. Forcing kids to anything is a bad idea. Especialy when it’s coding. And when it’s forced on girls.

By: Gabriel

Gabriel — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 22:53:08 +0000

Similar situation happend to me. a friend of mine wanted me to do some appliction, very simple application for kids. It was very important to involve young people in this. But where to find kids-programmers? I had to find some solution by the 2nd day of the next month. Solution was found – neighbours had children! I decided to force them to do some coding when they were at home

By: Will

Will — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 00:04:32 +0000

I’m all for forcing kids to do things. Wait, that came out wrong. What I -meant- to say is that children – and probably most adults for that matter – will very often choose “no” when confronted with something new and outside their comfort zone. This is definitely an “oldschool” aspect of parenting, but my Grandmother, and to a lesser extent my mother, never allowed me to refuse a new food. As a result, I now have wildly varied tastes, a foundation of memorable experience, and a huge pet peeve having to do with picky eaters – not those who genuinely dislike something, but those grown *ss people you meet who say things like, “I don’t eat broccoli” when they’ve barely eaten any, let alone all the various recipes for it, or “I don’t eat any kind of seafood”, as if they had any idea of -all- the various kinds of seafood there are out there.

By: Greg

Greg — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 06:46:42 +0000

I like this idea

By: Ben Gilbert

Ben Gilbert — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 22:42:13 +0000

I would hope to inspire rather than “force” my hypothetical kids into doing nerdy stuff. Rather like how Richard Feynman’s father would inspire his son into science by taking him on walks and trying to understand the word like a scientist.

By: Pamela Fox

Pamela Fox — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 12:08:18 +0000

Heya–

I’m the one that was ‘forced’ to code, and let me clarify, as I likely dramatized it for the presentation effect.

I started coding in HTML and Perl, and I loved it. But, I loved alot of other things, too. I’ve always had a diverse array of interests. So, to make sure I’d stay coding, my dad would bribe me to code.

We did the same thing for my sister with reading, and it worked a charm (we bribed her with troll dolls, as they were all the rage). She became a great reader and writer.

It’s more that you see a spark, and you make sure it doesn’t go away.

By: Aino Vonge Corry

Aino Vonge Corry — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 12:03:30 +0000

The way I see it, it did work once on a bright girl, which is a good sign
Plus, most CS women I know didn’t know they wanted to enter CS (maybe it is my age showing) because they didn’t think they would like to become nerds. But when they were “forced” to code (because of math studies and the like) they discovered that they liked it.
And I promise I will not force my girls with whips and cages, but giving them an incentive to start coding cannot be a bad thing?

By: Zegarki Na Reke

Zegarki Na Reke — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 10:47:10 +0000

That’s a terrible idea. Just because it worked on her doesn’t mean it’s universal. Forcing kids to anything is a bad idea. Especialy when it’s coding. And when it’s forced on girls.

By: Aino Vonge Corry

Aino Vonge Corry — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 08:06:15 +0000

I don’t know what happened to them, please tell me? From where I am (PC member for software conferences) they are almost invisible.
So I am thinking, one way to get them started is to force them to see the fun and power that lies in it. Like forcing them to play an instrument, when they are children. Sometimes it provides them with a task they will enjoy the rest of their lives.

By: misstech

misstech — Thu, 21 May 2009 22:23:51 +0000

forcing people to code.. whatever happened to chicks who taught themselves??