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By "code" mean a syntax/semantics and by "program" architecture/algorithms?


Sorta. Code is the medium of encoding a program, but it's just text. One important part about programming is it gives us a new mode to think in terms of. Another is that it gives us power over an entity (the computer) to execute things. The cool thing about Papert's LOGO was that children already knew how to think in terms of left, right, forward, etc. so they could act out their programs in real life before writing them down. This is one step forward, but not enough.

We have to stop looking at computers as machines with mice and keyboards and small screens that we conquer with code and start thinking of them as abstract entities that execute things, and then think of how best to manipulate those entities to do what we want.

"The computer is an instrument whose music is ideas" (Alan Kay) - Can you imagine what music would look like today if all we could do was write it down and hit play? Where's the emotion and playfulness in that?




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