I've heard lot of people say that the best way to learn to code is to set out to solve a problem you're having.
I wonder if the global trend towards open solutions for problems will discourage people learning to code. I've been using computers for perhaps 15 years and I've only ever skirted around the edges of coding. I've learned a little regex and a tiny bit of bash scripting and I know how to edit a little php to get Wordpress to do what I want it to, but that's as much as I've needed to solve every computing problem I've encountered.
Wordpress is a pretty good example: there's now such a rich ecosystem of themes, plugins and hacks that you can get it to do some pretty amazing things without needing to actually write any code yourself.
I wonder if the global trend towards open solutions for problems will discourage people learning to code. I've been using computers for perhaps 15 years and I've only ever skirted around the edges of coding. I've learned a little regex and a tiny bit of bash scripting and I know how to edit a little php to get Wordpress to do what I want it to, but that's as much as I've needed to solve every computing problem I've encountered.
Wordpress is a pretty good example: there's now such a rich ecosystem of themes, plugins and hacks that you can get it to do some pretty amazing things without needing to actually write any code yourself.