Why Coding Should Be Central to Global Education.

Why Coding Should Be Central to Global Education.
  • June 27, 2024
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In his "Course in General Linguistics," Swiss thinker Ferdinand de Saussure talks about the dynamic and symbolic relationship between a language and the culture that emerges from it. The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, which maintained that a person's perspective and worldview may be perceived in the context of his linguistic affinity, further developed this theory of linguistic affinity.

Today, we operate in a world where it is often the case that the languages in which team members speak most fluently and communicate most regularly are not spoken but 'coded'. Experts are now more interested in the idea that the 'Spirit Whorf' hypothesis can be applied to programming languages. Be it Python or Java, C# or CSS, programming languages have their own cultures, attitudes, and developments, and thus, it can be said that they shape the minds of those who use them.

The role of technology

Programming languages have become an integral part of the culture of many organizations today, how they work, and what they stand for. Programming languages connect people who would not otherwise have much in common by acting as a bridge between individuals from various teams, backgrounds, and nations.

This concept offers a helpful model that might be applied in fields other than finance. Fundamentally, technology has the power to cross boundaries and cultural barriers, enabling global collaboration and progress.

While many programming languages require a basic understanding of English, this is changing. Knowledge of 40 or 50 words that represent the basic teaching vocabulary of coding are enough like, "IF,"  "TRUE,"  "FALSE,"  "static,"  "default,"  etc.

Basic words used in coding like "I,"  "TRUE,"  "FALSE,"  "static,"  "default,"  etc. can be learned much more easily. Igor Tulchinsky, chairman and CEO of WorldQuant, says, “In talking to the technologists I work with, I find that many of them think of these functions as words, rather than as a symbolic element in their respective programming languages. They work within a system, which has its own rules and its own internal logic.”.

Additionally, programming languages are now gradually incorporating alphabets from other languages, where earlier only English words were used. Chinese has BASIC, Arabic has Qalb, Persian has Farsinet, Japanese has Dolittle, and Czech has Karel. Coding seems to be increasingly globalizing, a reflection of the lives and cultures of the next generation of coding talent.

According to a survey by "Developer Nation,"  there are about 30 million professional software developers in the world, which has almost doubled since 2013. However, these statistics only reflect the surface. A report by Alpha Software shows that for every professional software developer, there are four times as many civilian developers who write code in the evenings, when the everyday world has closed its business for the day. Yes, these are the people who thus seek a beautiful escape from the everyday world. 

The WorldQuint head continues, "I remember feeling like I had found a new home when I was first introduced to coding at the age of 16." I cherished the sense of working in a field where I had total liberty and independence but was also a part of a community of experts when I started out as a video game designer.

Flow of programming languages

Just as spoken languages evolve to reflect the evolution of the world around them, programming languages are subject to constant change, adapting themselves to reflect the rapid pace of advancement in technology. They keep dating. Coding is the new common language of today's modern age. 

In recent years, the tech industry has been urging everyone to learn coding for an hour a day, including high-profile figures like former US President Barack Obama, who once said, “Don't just play on your phone.; also program it." The UK has mandated coding education in schools, while other countries, including Estonia, Finland, Italy, and Singapore, are already incorporating coding into classroom instruction.

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