Programming as Literacy?
Darren Hobbs, referenced on the Knowing and Doing blog.)
“In what's typically called 'the western world', before literacy became essentially ubiquitous it was limited to a select few. Monks originally, then scribes.
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Programming appears to have many parallels with literacy in medieval times. It is a somewhat arcane skill known to a select few, who typically put that skill to use for others in return for remuneration. There are very few scribes left nowadays, although I'm sure at the time they felt that as there would always be a need to write things down, that there would always be scribes.”
It's an interesting idea. But the more I think about it, the less the analogy works.
As it states, literacy has become ubiquitous. Scribes only real qualification at the time, was that they were literate. So there are in fact many many scribes these days. The school systems are full of them. Thank the gods.
But that's just a small nit pick.
More importantly, to me, is the fact that literacy was not invented by the monks and scribes in question. The ability to write has been around for 5000+ years. In contrast, the Book of Kells, written by those famous monks, was written a little over 1000 years ago. Whether the Book of Kells single handedly saved western culture from oblivion is probably a matter of dispute, but those monks who were hiding in caves off the coast of Scotland in a time when Christians was being actively persecuted, are credited with keeping the promethean flame of knowledge from going out completely. These were the dark ages, when knowledge passed into darkness.
It’s interesting, in terms of history, to remember that we are still clawing ourselves back into the light. It’s only been in the last 600 years that we have not only been learning new things, but re learning what we once knew, and forgot.
So to call programmers the new Scribes seems a little odd to me. They are not the bearers of some sacred flame, but the trail blazers. It’s true that few could truly call themselves programmers, the rest of us just hack around the edges. And the ability to program, in my opinion, is hardly up there with the ability to read and write.
Computer literacy is an important skill, as evidenced by many education departments who make it a part of normal schooling. But the ability to use a computer is not the same as the ability to program one. Does normal literacy also require knowledge of how to manufacture paper and bind books before we can use them to read and write? I don’t think so. This is still a skill know only to a relatively small group compared to the masses of people who are quite happy to just buy and read news papers, magazines and book prepared by others. Similarly, does everyone need to be a practiced author before they can read?
The role of technology in society is going to fade into the background. It importance is going to grow and grow, but its visibility will fade. How many people take much notice of how gas and electricity is delivered into houses? Who stands and marvels at TV and radio these days? Once upon a time people were amazed by these things and had regard for the people who knew how this stuff worked. But programmers will fade into the background just like plumbers and electricians and mechanics have. These people are there, and they are essential. Our societies would come to a screeching halt without them. But who notices them.
So I do agree that there are a lot of programmers around, and that there role will fade as the role of scribes once did. But I don’t see this as being a bad thing. As technology itself becomes ubiquitous, paradoxically the role of programmers will fade. Until we have a similar situation to literacy today. Everyone will be able to use computers, and entire industries will be devoted to maintaining these systems and producing content for them, much like the publishing industry. But there will only be a few decent writers, and only a few people developing the stuff.
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