Computer Science Teacher: Define Learn To Code — blog.acthompson.net

I saw an interesting question today on Twitter: Hey coding enthusiasts! In your opinion, what's the best laptop for students to learn how to code on? #edchat #edtechchat #pdchat— Mary Jo Madda (@MJMadda) September 30, 2021 My first response is that there is no definitive answer to that question. I thought about it for a while. One can learn to program by hooking a Raspberry Pi to a monitor, keyboard, and mouse and firing up Thonny and learn Python. One can use any number of online IDEs and a Chrome book. The last classes I taught had a mix of students running Eclipse and Processing on Mac and PC laptops with no appreciable difference. In short, does the computer even matter?Maybe there is a question that has to be asked and answered before discussing the right or best laptop to use. That question is “what does it mean to “learn how to code?” I suspect we could have quite a long discussion on that question alone.To me it boils down to: What problem are you trying to solve – how do you define “learning to code”What software helps you best learn to code by your definitionWhat hardware runs the software you want to run Picking the hardware should almost always be the last thing one picks. Now I have to go think about what it means to “learn how to code.”

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