RawData

Should marketing types learn to code? And if so...should they start with PHP? Probably a good way to ease them into it...

I've been a single founder for over 17 years in numerous successful Startups...anyone who thinks that it's a drawback is a fool who's more interested in the fanboy hype world of Startups than in building real businesses. This phenomenon of "needing" co-founders is really a relatively new thing and is dismaying to watch.

I once co-founded a biotech company in New York with a guy. He was the director of research at a smaller investment bank and had tons of contacts in the biotech industry. Between his contacts and my tech skills it was a slam dunk.

That was one of the few times I ever had a co-founder...It was a strategic reason to have a co-founder that fit a very narrow set of criteria...and really one of the only reasons to ever have a co-founder.

To say, on the other hand, "I need a co-founder" by default is just dumb. To treat it like an item to check off the list for creating a startup is insane. But that seems to be where we are these days in the world of startups...

Yeah I always go back to php too...I think there are more of us than people care to admit! ;-)

I'm not familiar with Logo...

Basic...on the Commodore 64.

Even being tech savvy and privacy savvy may not be enough, but we should all try to do what we can to teach our kids about these issues... and it starts with teaching them to code early on...IMHO

That's a good point. When I was learning I was desperate for knowledge...back then we didn't have the Internet so my options were really limited. I ended up getting a comb-bound manual on Basic for X-mas and was thrilled with it. LOL

Ah, we had an Apple II at school, but I learned my basic on the ole Commodore 64 at home...

I started coding when I was like 7 or 8 years old...

Was I a freak or is that a generally acceptable age to start teaching the average child?

I've wanted to do this for some time now and I'm almost there...

I thought we'd start with an intro to programming course settled around the Python language...move into more advanced python topics in the next course, then hit basic html/css to teach them to build simple websites, then round it out with more web development topics like javascript and php.

Then go from there...

Thoughts or suggestions???

Please please (please!) help spread the word! I really want to do this right...

That.is.awesome!

If I offer to let you park your car in my garage for free, and then one day lock the door and take your car...I'm not allowed to do that just because I had been letting you park there for free. The car still belongs to you.

Likewise, google shouldnt be able to close a free account and keep all my email, my stored files, etc. it's ludicrous.

Yet thats exactly what they do..time and again...and people just bend over and take it.

Consideraion doesn't necessarily have to be money...

I don't understand why no one has sued google over this... That would be my first reaction...

It's no Nibbles...

I've been programming for nearly 30 years. I can use PHP to easily teach 7-10 year-olds simple concepts such as variables, loops, etc. in a very easy to understand and easy to implement way.

I can spark an interest in programming that can lead to further learning opportunities. PHP is a perfect tool for that in my mind. There. That's my justification.

Once someone learns one language...ANY language, including Basic which you hate as well, but which I learned first on the Commodore 64 and was not irreparably damaged from...one can easily pick up another. I picked up python in a day, ruby in a day. Let's be serious.

I don't need to have an interactive graphic session to get immediate instant feedback for 7 year old children. I don't need a text terminal to get useful results and feedback for seven year old children. I don't need to discuss object-oriented principles for 7 year old children.

I need pretty pictures, possibly comic in nature, and an easy programming language. I choose PHP.

I'm not trying to churn out 7-year old computer scientists and I don't think you understand that.

You don't like PHP...yippity do. As I said before, if you don't like it, shut up and write your own childrens book using whatever language you want.

Nothing you say will stop me from writing this book. So keep talking if you like, but I'm done interacting with you.

I really should have realized that my attempt to help kids learn something would degenerate into another pointless trolling argument over which language is better. I'm clearly a horrible human being. How about this...Why don't YOU write your own book using whatever language you want...or stop talking. In the mean time, I'll be off teaching kids php.

You're right, we should probably just start 7 year olds out with assembly language and beat them with sticks. Starting them off with a fairly easy language that's widely widely widely used and easily introduces simple topics like variables, loops, etc is probably a terrible idea. Thanks for your consideration.

There are so many resources for adults to learn to code online, I thought we needed one for the younger kids...

I started to code when I was 7 on my dad's Commodore 64 and would have killed for a resource aimed at someone my age...

Any help would be appreciated!

It's nonsense to say that you must have co-founders...I've been building companies for 17 years as a single founder. People do it all the time...

I mean...you go to Harvard for the connections... You go to like a Washu if you're interested in academics.

You've got your boat back, now sue them for defamation or something.

Of course they stole it...

It was only free for 24 hours...sorry. :-( now it's $9.94 for the kindle and like $24.95 for paperback I think...

Just go to your Amazon.ca website and search for the book title...it's available there: http://www.amazon.ca/PHP-Programming-Affiliate-Marketers-ebo...

Hey, I'll take it!

A free book about coding at Hackernews is spam?

When I checked earlier today there were 20+ free php books...not sure why Amazon is only showing mine now... It's #2 in the overall programming category and #1 in php...shrugs neat.

Oh I dunno...I don't think you're ever going to convince me that LESS knowledge is a good thing. We can - and should - all learn new skills that are outside out respective boxes. An affiliate marketer with some php knowledge is always going to be better off than one without...even if it's just enough knowledge to know whether the dev they hire is snowing them over!

This book is aimed at affiliate marketers who want to spruce up their websites with php...BUT, it's actually not a bad intro to PHP on its own. Free Today for Kindle.