Why everyone should learn programming

Daniel Shiffman, assistant professor at the NYU Interactive Telecommunications Program, talks programming, computation, data, and why everyone should learn programming in this interview by Mark Webster.

It’s not just about saving time. There are certain things you can discover and be creative with with computation that you can’t by hand. They both go together.

Watch the four-minute interview below. The excitement in Shiffman’s voice alone might want to make you learn some Processing (which he wrote a useful book for).

[Mark Webster via @ben_fry]

2 Comments

  • As I see it there is an inherent bias for most professions to think learning more about their way of thinking would empower people and make the world a better place.So, as a designer I believe all are better served learning the design process. Not everyone has the capacity to learn and utilize programming. But we can all learn a process to solve problems.

    • Nathan, thanks for sharing this. Wonderful video. I recently attended Tedx San Antonio where very similar (and passionate) sentiments were shared by Prof. Aaron Delwiche. The need to understand how technology works as opposed to just using it.