John Archambault:
Digitalist
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| January 8, 2008 |
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| Everyone's a Programmer | |||
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I've been meaning to write a post about a future where everyone can write computer code; hearing about Nicholas Carr's latest book on the death of IT has inspired me to do so. I often feel that we are moving into a future where sophisticated programming will be an essential skill for everyone, almost as much as being able to read and write. Today we have teenagers hacking their mySpace page; tomorrow they will build fairly elaborate databases with web front ends, and, as time goes on, even more elaborate projects will be undertaken. One of the basic epistemological assumptions of the One Laptop per Child project is that children will learn how to program by first playing around with ("hacking") their own code, then freely sharing what they've learned amongst their peers. In twenty years, I see pretty much everyone being able to create fairly sophisticated programs beyond the capability of all but today's most expert coders. I (sort of) think Carr (partially) agrees with my hypothesis, at least if by "IT" he means "data center. " He does write about how "individual employees will be able to control the processing of information directly... " and this will happen. There will be so many tools freely available to assist with the creation of databases, security controls, etc., that there's no reason why an individual can't manage bytes and bits on his/her own. You need to know where your bits are - mine are located on a machine in Utah, managed by the folks at bluehost.com - but as long as you know the location of your bits in Carr's information cloud, you will be able to do whatever you want with them. Carr and I seem to differ about the manner in which one will manage one's bits; he makes it seem like people won't be writing code. I feel that the number of people who write code all the time - aka, professional programmers - will decline, but mainly because the number of people who are capable of writing some code is going to jump exponentially. There will still be a need for professional programmers, but mainly as gurus for the rest of the population, and as managers of the data cloud. I see data as a sea of bits - having the ability to safely sail across it allows one to harness its awesome power to one's advantage; an entire generation of humans is about to set sail... |
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