Seeing all this stuff I can’t help but think that if programming doesn’t just come naturally to your brain such that you would need all this stuff, then you’re probably better off pursuing something that does come naturally.
Has anyone here used flashcards to help them learn a new language?
If anything, the book tells the exact opposite: you can write your code so that it's naturally easier to understand.
I think there's value in having non-programmers (or experts of any kind) having worked through some non-trivial examples as it may solidify in their mind that what the experts are telling them is legitimate (though, this rests on the requirement that what they are telling people actually is legitimate...which I think is is very much the same problem, but more refined). A classic example of this is COVID, but not only the vaccines aspect.
I think this general idea (a much more sophisticated interpretation of it than I'm giving here) has very broad applicability and importance to advanced societies.
An untalented programmer who has worked their way to competency would probably make a good teacher, because they can impart all the things that didn't work for them, but they're unlikely to be as good as a talented programmer, given equal cumulative hours of practice for each one.
The vast majority of the programming workforce doesn't have both.
If you can only pick one, you're better off with the discipline, because you will earn more money and be able to retire earlier, and/or with better living standards.
I go back and forth between thinking Python is better for learning because "hey, less typing, less curly braces". Then thinking - great i dont know wtf is happening here - just magic i guess?? (refer XCXD comic).
I have seen this many times in relation to education and quite simply, the way we teach, often "for speed", and "at university" - do not equate to learning anything. Learning how things works for real - takes time, and is often outside the scope of a "semester"...and quite honestly beyond our current paradigms of cordoned off disciplines.
Programming/algorithmic thinking is more or less hardware accelerated mathematics. When i opened up Hammack's - How to Prove it - and read about sets, saw the notation - AHA moment. Similar things happened when looking at Charles Petzold's Code and seeing details of carry bits in counter chips, and comparing those to literal carry pins in gear based mechanical calculators (in Norman Bigg's "Quite Right").
None of this comes naturally (to me) - and i think many of the learning resources are there - but are not there at the time you need them. Common comments "just do a project"..."get out of tutorial hell"...very well meaning...but even a 1000 LOC text editor is an absolute head fuck for someone who just learnt to print a triangle of hashes.
I've reached out to the creator of the Turing Complete PC game on Steam. I'm certain once virtualising a computer which runs C in that game - will we reach the epitome of programming pedagogy :-)