I'm still all for it. Coding is a lot more than just filling jobs. It opens the door to critical thinking, breaking down complex problems into simple ones, separating correlation and causality, and differentiating between data vs anecdotes. It's essentially applied STEM education, but with very practical, tangible outcomes in equipment that nearly everyone will have access to.

I can't think of a faster, more accessible, more entertaining way to grow these skills.

It is also a very affordable and quick way to "build stuff", which is one of the strongest ways for children/adolescents to get excited about their "work"

I do have to wonder what learning to code offers over the math that is already taught. It seems akin to teaching baking as applied chemistry. Should baking be a mandatory subject?

In high school, I taught myself how to program and formally took the math classes offered. I remember many days in class thinking, "oh, this is just like programming with another syntax." There is a lot of overlap there. In terms of critical thinking and breaking down problems, a coding course would just be a reiteration of the existing math classes in an applied setting.

What's "the world" for you? The bay area? Cause' I wish people would like to learn how to code where I live (Miami, FL).

I moved from Miami to the Bay Area because of that exact reason. Miami is more or less dead as far as the coding/startup community goes. To bad since it's about 1/3rd the cost to live there.

Yep. I think before everyone learns to code, they need to learn to think. Just dumping a bunch more people into the software field is not going to help the average quality of software at all, which is already pretty miserable.

Of course, coding is a good way to stimulate thinking, or at least it is for me. But they must go hand in hand...

As someone who teaches people to code as a non-profit in an economically challenged environment, I'd invite you to stop in to one of your local non-profit-learn-to-code events and see the variety and interest of the people it attracts and the results. Not all of them will go on to become professional programmers but most of them will use code in their careers at some point in some capacity. More importantly, coding teaches self-learning, problem-solving and independence which can be applied to absolutely every way of life.

I think this is a very sane response. It is cynical and perhaps a little harsh but it's just reality.

Is it really that surprising to you that this would cause such a reaction? Over the past few years, coding has become so accessible that non-technical people are able easily set up projects with a few lines of code. It has also become a lot more social with programmers posting in hundreds of blogs, on twitter nonstop, and collaborating on sites like Github.

This is all besides the point, though. What is wrong with "code fever," as you put it? With that kind of connotation, you seem to be implying that there is some kind of net loss if everyone learns something about programming. Beyond being mad about a fad (which is itself an overreaction, I might add), it doesn't make much sense to me. Care to explain?

Thank you.

If we're teaching coding to have more coding monkeys or because it's cool, you're right. On the other side, if we're teaching people to solve problems (coding or no-coding), that's always good.