[mediumdave]

I teach computer science, and I've always felt the distinction between programming and computer science to be artificial, for the following reasons.

(1) It is necessary to learn the basics of programming in order to learn computer science.

(2) It is necessary to learn computer science in order to become a proficient programmer.

So my feeling is that, by all means, we should be teaching anyone and everyone how to code, to lay the groundwork for teaching computer science.

[NAFV_P]

Re points (1) and (2):

Ha, that sounds like bootstrapping would be necessary.

> So my feeling is that, by all means, we should be teaching anyone and everyone how to code, to lay the groundwork for teaching computer science.

Yeah, but which knowledge - coding or computer science, is more important? Both can be aimed at solving problems. It depends on the context, especially regarding the language and associated libraries etcetera being used.

[CoryG89]

I absolutely agree with this. All kids should be learning how to compile a basic program as they are learning their multiplication tables. They may not end up being computer scientists or mathematicians but everyone should at least get that. I certainly didn't. They didn't even have programming at my highschool.

[andyidsinga]

yes!

..everyone should have exposure.

a large majority should be a able to write a bit of code to perform a task in their lives or work.

some subset will become computer scientists and software engineers.

... just like so many other technologies :)