• I disagree with the 'everyone needs to learn to program' theory as was mentioned before in the 'everyone needs to know how to fix a car' example.

    It would be good if people had a general knowledge of how it works in a general sense. Everyone should have a basic knowledge of first aid, but they should not attempt medicine. Everyone should have a basic understanding of law but they should not attempt to be their own lawyer. The average person should know how to change a tire, but not attemp to be their own mechanic.

    The truth is, we DON'T need a universe of programmers. People need to get their jobs done (generally with applications) and it's up to the subset of the population who are programmers to provide them (just as it's up to the subset of the population that are automotive engineers and mechanics to provide viable vehicles).

    ...

    -- FORTRAN manual for Xerox Computers --