I think that all students should learn to code, no matter what their major is. Coding provides a very important framework for how to problem solve, as well as how to think in general. At Carleton, one of the graduation requirements is to be proficient in another language, and I think a similar importance should be given to coding because it is also a language, but it also allows students/people to be able to use computers to complete many different tasks, as well as critical think. Additionally, as we saw with our deep dive into digital humanities projects, coding is crucial in many humanities fields as well.
“Procedural literacy, which starts with exercises like making a snowball, will be essential if humanities students are to understand virtual worlds as rhetorical and ideological spaces, just as film and the novel are likewise understood as forms of representation and rhetoric.”
Matthew G. Kirschenbaum. “Hello Worlds (Why Humanities Students Should Learn to Program),” May 24, 2010. https://mkirschenbaum.wordpress.com/2010/05/23/hello-worlds/.
Kirschenbaum explains that humanities students should learn to code in order to understand the way that virtual spaces work. In a world that is becoming increasingly reliant on technology, the ability to code can act as a gateway to the inner workings of computers for humanities students.
I had no coding experience at all before this term, but I am currently in the introduction to computer science course here, and we are learning how to code with Python. I think the few classes I have taken so far actually did help me with these introductions into HTML and CSS because I was at least used to some coding elements and how to type up certain things, even though the languages are quite different. I did think that some of the elements of code within HTML and CSS were quite challenging because there were certain syntax terms that I did not know I missed. I did actually enjoy these two lessons I took because it helped me learn how to format the code in these languages, and CSS was fun to play around with different design elements.
Code example:
<p style="color: purple">Hi I'm Molly</p>
<h2> Header 2 here </h2>
<p>This <em>is</em> exciting!</p>