{"id":22494,"date":"2014-08-04T02:00:36","date_gmt":"2014-08-04T06:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/?p=22494"},"modified":"2014-08-04T09:35:39","modified_gmt":"2014-08-04T13:35:39","slug":"computer-programming-camp-offers-lesson-in-logic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/2014\/08\/04\/computer-programming-camp-offers-lesson-in-logic\/","title":{"rendered":"Computer Programming Camp Offers Lesson In Logic"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Ryan Seashore starts off every <a href=\"http:\/\/codenow.org\/\">CodeNow workshop<\/a> with a simple request &#8212; write out step-by-step instructions for making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.<\/p>\n<p>A CodeNow teacher pretends to be a robot, and follows the students\u2019 orders exactly as they\u2019re written.<\/p>\n<p>Students quickly find that asking a computer to perform an everyday task isn\u2019t so easy.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_22498\"  class=\"wp-caption module image center\" style=\"max-width: 620px;\"><a class=\"fancybox\" title=\"CodeNow's Kareem Grant works with students during a June coding camp in Miami. Grant likes that coding requires disciplined thinking.\" href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/files\/2014\/08\/8-4-CodeNowGrant.jpg\" rel=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-large wp-image-22498\" alt=\"CodeNow's Kareem Grant works with students during a June coding camp in Miami. Grant likes that coding requires disciplined thinking.\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/files\/2014\/08\/8-4-CodeNowGrant-620x465.jpg\" width=\"620\" height=\"465\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/files\/2014\/08\/8-4-CodeNowGrant-620x465.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/files\/2014\/08\/8-4-CodeNowGrant-300x225.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">John O&#39;Connor \/ StateImpact Florida<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">CodeNow&#39;s Kareem Grant works with students during a June coding camp in Miami. Grant likes that coding requires disciplined thinking.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\u201cThey basically follow every instruction,&#8221; said Seashore, who founded CodeNow. &#8220;And so if it\u2019s \u2018Hey, take out bread from a bag,\u2019 they will tear the bag of bread open. If it\u2019s like \u2018Spread the peanut butter\u2019 and they didn\u2019t say \u2018Hey, twist the lid off\u2019 it\u2019ll spread the jar on it.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This is a really amazing exercise because it teaches students the importance of logic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n<p>The lesson: Good programming starts with organized, disciplined thinking. And one mistake can cause everything to crash.<\/p>\n<p>Coding is a hot subject right now in Florida schools. Florida lawmakers allowed students to substitute computer programming for a <a href=\"http:\/\/code.org\/action\">math or science high school graduation requirement<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<div class=\"related-content alignright\"><h4 class=\"related-header\">Related<\/h4><div class=\"links\"><h5>Posts<\/h5><ul><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/2014\/07\/21\/gov-scott-rolls-out-plan-to-prepare-workers-for-high-tech-jobs\/\">Gov. Scott Rolls Out Plan To Prepare Workers For High-Tech Jobs<\/a><\/li><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/2014\/06\/20\/new-florida-report-tracks-state-college-and-university-graduate-earnings\/\">New Florida Report Tracks State College And University Graduate Earnings<\/a><\/li><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/2014\/02\/13\/girls-who-code-launches-in-miami-tries-to-close-stem-gender-gap\/\">Girls Who Code Launches In Miami, Tries To Close STEM Gender Gap<\/a><\/li><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/2014\/01\/22\/entrepeneur-brings-tech-education-to-minority-students\/\">Why A Business Owner Is Teaching South Florida Students To Write Computer Code<\/a><\/li><li class=\"link\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/2014\/06\/19\/florida-students-go-online-to-join-algebra-nation\/\">Florida Students Go Online To Join Algebra Nation<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/div><div class=\"topics\"><h5>Topics<\/h5><p class=\"topic\"><img class=\"alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/files\/2011\/10\/4290846294_c9483c6494_m-60x60.jpg\" height=\"60\" width=\"60\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/topic\/stem\/\">Explaining Florida&#8217;s STEM Education Plan<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/div>\n<p>Lawmakers considered allowing students to take coding instead of <a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/2014\/02\/03\/computer-programming-could-count-as-a-foreign-language\/\">physical education or a foreign language<\/a>, before abandoning the ideas.<\/p>\n<p>And a small army of non-profits &#8212; CodeNow, <a href=\"http:\/\/code.org\/\">Code.org<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.blackgirlscode.com\/\">Black Girls Code<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/2014\/02\/13\/girls-who-code-launches-in-miami-tries-to-close-stem-gender-gap\/\">Girls Who Code<\/a> &#8212; are teaching students across the state how to create a program.<\/p>\n<p>They have several goals.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Give students a crack at learning a lucrative skill.<\/li>\n<li>Create a pipeline of homegrown workers for Florida companies.<\/li>\n<li>And add some diversity to a largely white, male industry.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>But a skill for the new economy usually starts with a lesson in logic, a classic discipline.<\/p>\n<p>On a recent Sunday morning at downtown Miami\u2019s Venture Hive tech workshop, \u00a0two dozen students are applying logic to design simple games using the programming language, Ruby.<\/p>\n<p>Two students are trying to write a program which will print colored words on the screen.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLet\u2019s just do blue,\u201d one student said.<\/p>\n<p>They type in their commands. They run the program.<\/p>\n<p>But something fails.<\/p>\n<p>Downcast, the student read the error message.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWrong number of arguments.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Many of the students at the CodeNow workshop, like Yoami Garcia, had never done any computer programming.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_22500\"  class=\"wp-caption module image left\" style=\"max-width: 300px;\"><a class=\"fancybox\" title=\"Students at the CodeNow workshop in Miami learned to program simple games, such as asking users to quickly match words and colors.\" href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/files\/2014\/08\/8-4-CodeNow1.jpg\" rel=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-22500\" alt=\"Students at the CodeNow workshop in Miami learned to program simple games, such as asking users to quickly match words and colors.\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/files\/2014\/08\/8-4-CodeNow1-300x225.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/files\/2014\/08\/8-4-CodeNow1-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/files\/2014\/08\/8-4-CodeNow1-620x465.jpg 620w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">John O&#39;Connor \/ StateImpact Florida<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students at the CodeNow workshop in Miami learned to program simple games, such as asking users to quickly match words and colors.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>She\u2019ll be a junior this fall at Archimedian Conservatory, a Miami charter school. She wants to be a journalist and thought coding would be useful.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI love logic and math,&#8221; she said. &#8220;So I thought maybe I\u2019d be actually good at this too.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She was a little frustrated by the trial and error.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t like that. It gets a little bit annoying, but I mean, that\u2019s how you\u2019re going to learn I guess.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Most students get a taste of logic problems in math class \u2013 puzzling out which kid lives in the red house; or who owns the dog. But the type of formal logic conceived by Aristotle or the Stoics usually doesn\u2019t come until college philosophy courses.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/profiles.stanford.edu\/david-dill\">David Dill teaches computer science at Stanford University<\/a>. He says it seems a long way from Plato to Bill Gates, but philosophy and computer science are intertwined.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEvery once and a while I encounter a little ancient history,&#8221; he said, &#8220;and realize that there are so many things we live with now that are descended from something that somebody invented thousands of years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The father of computer science, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.turing.org.uk\/\">Alan Turing<\/a>, was as much a philosopher as he was a mathematician or military code-breaker. And Dill said there are still direct ties.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_22501\"  class=\"wp-caption module image right\" style=\"max-width: 300px;\"><a class=\"fancybox\" title=\"a quick-reference sheet for the programming language, Ruby, which students learned at the CodeNow camp in Miami.\" href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/files\/2014\/08\/8-4-CodeNow2.jpg\" rel=\"\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-22501\" alt=\"a quick-reference sheet for the programming language, Ruby, which students learned at the CodeNow camp in Miami.\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/files\/2014\/08\/8-4-CodeNow2-300x225.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/files\/2014\/08\/8-4-CodeNow2-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/files\/2014\/08\/8-4-CodeNow2-620x465.jpg 620w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">John O&#39;Connor \/ StateImpact Florida<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">A quick-reference sheet for the programming language, Ruby, which students learned at the CodeNow camp in Miami.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\u201cProgramming languages that we use now are descended from work that people did in logic,&#8221; he said. &#8220;For example, <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/JavaScript\">Javascript<\/a> is based on a language called <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Scheme_%28programming_language%29\">Scheme<\/a>, which is based on a language called <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Lisp_%28programming_language%29\">Lisp<\/a>, which is derived from <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Lambda_calculus\">lambda calculus<\/a>, which is a language designed by a logician for studying logic.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Logic and problem solving are what hooked Kareem Grant on coding. Grant first learned coding about a decade ago. \u00a0But he only started working as a professional programmer in New York after volunteering with CodeNow.<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019s one of the teachers at Miami\u2019s weekend camp.<\/p>\n<p>Grant loves the challenge of turning an idea into something real. The feeling of solving every little puzzle to make a piece of programming work is the next best thing to having superpowers, he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe ruthless logic,&#8221; he said. &#8220;One semicolon that\u2019s off; one comma that\u2019s off. You miss an end statement in Ruby; everything breaks. But then you understand. You become disciplined\u2026because it took away two hours of your life and you\u2019re never going to let that happen again.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ryan Seashore starts off every CodeNow workshop with a simple request &#8212; write out step-by-step instructions for making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. A CodeNow teacher pretends to be a robot, and follows the students\u2019 orders exactly as they\u2019re written. Students quickly find that asking a computer to perform an everyday task isn\u2019t so [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":22498,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15],"tags":[971,1062,1082],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22494"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22494"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22494\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22507,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22494\/revisions\/22507"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}