UK: Year of Code "I can build website in hour!"

[Badnik Mechanic]

 

This lady is Lottie Dexter. She is the boss of the UK Governments 'year of code' scheme, this is a scheme which aims to increase the teaching of programming to school kids.

 

I for one thing it's a good idea. 

 

So why then from the tone of my post am I mocking this lady? Well here is the interview, starts at 5:33..

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7x7GYItzS4

 

Here are a few highlights from her interview on Newsnight last night.

 

"I can't code" 

 

"I'll be able to code in a year!"

 

Lottie: You can build a website in an hour!

 

Paxman: What?With no experience in coding?

 

Lottie: Yes!

 

"I might be the next Mark Zuckerberg in 12 months time!"

 

"It will only take a day to teach someone how to code!"

 

"By March, all teachers should feel confident enough to teach code!"

 

Paxman: What is code?

 

(Pause).

 

Lottie:  Code is the language you use to instruct computers... I think.

 

 

So then SSMB and people on here like me who are currently learning to code program. 

 

It only takes a day to teach someone how to code, you can build a website in an hour with no experience and in less than a month you can be confident to teach someone else how to code with only an hours a day experience of it.

 

Oh and code is the language you use to instruct computers... I think... ... . .. C++? Python? Aren't those snakes and letters?

 

 

The idea of teaching kids to learn how to program or code if you want to call it that is a great one... the idea that this woman is in charge of it? Erm... Why is she in charge of it when she blatantly knows nothing about it?

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Well to be fair, you could say she's doing more the planning than the actual coding. Although you'd still expect someone to have some experience in the damn subject, at least in freaking Java or C++.

 

Although she was technically right about what code is, as far as giving a general answer to the question. Probably wasn't worded well, but code is a set of computer instructions.

 

Python? Maybe it because I started with Java and C++ and my university teacher teaching it was new, but that shit was a pain in the ass to learn. And my other more experienced professors say it does everything for you compared to others.

[Salamander]

Don't worry, I'm sure she's a great manager who will run this scheme with business-like efficiency.  Managers don't need to know about what they're in charge of or understand how it works, they just need to know how to save money, make money, and make sure we can participate in this twenty-first century economy to the best of our ability.  In less than a year schoolchildren will be fully capable of churning out buggy, virus-ridden F2P clones on app stores to trick their peers into shilling out hundreds of pounds in IAPs.  That's the future of our economy.

[DocAzure]

Hilarious, she reminds me of that Philomena Cunk that appears on Charlie Brooker stuff, except this is a real person.

 

You think she'd at least know more than what I learned in my first year high school IT lessons.

[JaidynReiman]

PHP is one of the easier web-based programming languages to work with. Python is something I'm going to be researching within the next couple of weeks.

 

Build a website in an hour? A basic website takes me a few days to build if I've got a predesigned layout, and if everything goes smoothly. Otherwise it can take up to a week for a fairly basic website, and upwards of 2-3 months for more complicated websites.

 

Now, if you forgo all design and just want a barebones blog site... yeah, you can build a website in an hour. But it doesn't involve coding at all; its call "install a wordpress website, install a theme, and create your pages. You're done."

 

 

Realistically, that's NEVER going to happen. You NEED branding. If all you want is a barebones personal website, that's all fine an dandy, but you won't get anywhere with that and even a barebones website isn't going to look professional.

 

Unfortunately, I'm not a designer, I'm a developer. I tend to make the website from a pre-built design from Photoshop or something else.

[Crash]

To be fair I have been learning to code and it can take an hour to make a basic HTML site. Granted, not one with a URL but you can make one with pictures and stuff like that if you are taught by someone who understands how to do it.

 

Still, this woman doesn't know anything about coding? I dread to think where this could be going...

[Muddyfingers]

Did she actually say you can do very little in a short space of time and then go on to say you can build a website in an hour and learn to code in a day??

 

I think its a good idea to give kids a bit of knowledge beyond using Word and Excel but I do have a bit of a problem with all this.  Going by the evidence I see in my daughters secondary school I really think they should concentrate on actually teaching kids to be able to read, write and add up the cost of the items in a shopping basket first.  I suppose they'll at least be able to hack the school network and change their English and Math grades!!