I think that it is very important for humanities students to understand and learn how to code, even if they don’t master it or use it frequently. When I first took an Introduction to Computer Science class at the beginning of high school, I initially hated it; I felt that all the rules and formats were too complicated and confusing, and I struggled to figure out how to build basic programs and websites. However, as the class went on, I realized that Computer Science was more than just memorizing what words create what product. I had the ability to look up documentation, and I didn’t necessarily need to memorize everything, I just needed to understand how it worked. This realization greatly expanded what I could accomplish. I found myself being able to express my ideas and solve problems using completely unique ways from everybody else, even if we were accomplishing the same goal. I resonated deeply with the idea that Matthew G. Kirschenbaum presented in his essay, that learning Computer Science is really just learning “how you choose to model some select slice of the world around you in the formal environment of a computer”. I felt like I could model and solve ideas in the world around me using a computer, due to the fact that I simply understood how it worked. As I continued to work on Computer Science, I also realized that how a computer works is simply how logic works; a computer can only do the most simple operations, but can culminate into the most complex algorithms and problems. As Kirschenbaum says in his essay, even a simple Hello World program, which looks like this in the language C:
main() {
printf("hello, world");
}can be broken apart into a deep understanding of what is going on: knowing what goes on on your hard drive when you put words in quotations, and knowing what printf means. These are all fundamental concepts that allow an understanding of code and how a complex structure operates from simple operations. The understanding of this allows every student, especially those in the humanities to think about and truly understand what they can accomplish using the most simple operations, and can allow analysis of any humanities topic to expand in its scope and potential.
2 thoughts on “Blog Post Week 3”
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I completely agree with your idea that you don’t need to memorize everything that has to do with coding, you just need to know how it works and there are resources out there that can help with building and all the other good stuff.
I’m glad you mentioned the change in your attitude because I’ve had a similar experience! When I first started to code, I found it very confusing, with too many unfamiliar words. But as I gradually understood it, I discovered the clever structure and logic within, as if entering a new world. I also agree that you don’t necessarily need to memorize everything, just understand how it works. I believe that understanding and thinking will help a lot in other areas as well.