Programming concepts

Pommie said:

Imagine your first day on a building site. Your boss says "you said you could lay bricks"? You reply, I'm an expert with Lego! Learn C, it's universal.

Mike.

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Imagine your first day at Google, Your boss says "you said you could code"? You reply, I'm an expert in C. Boss falls out of chair, the ad was for C++ and Tensor based AI work. C and Block programming no help here. But then your Gerbil brain kicks in and you state "but I can adapt to C++ quickly and my visual skills would fit nicely with Tensor work. Boom, you are hired on the spot, given 1,000,000 shares in Google, and told to come back when you are ready. Guess that block and flow code visual learning and mundane C was worth something after all.

Dana.

You can read this :

Pommie said:

Imagine your first day on a building site. Your boss says "you said you could lay bricks"? You reply, I'm an expert with Lego!

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Actually, that's not a terribly good example

My wife works as a TA (Teaching Assistant) at a local Primary School, and a number of years a go they had a boy go through the school who had considerable learning difficulties, and behaviour problems. As a result he spent lot of time playing with Lego.

When he left school, his father got him a job one day as a 'tea boy' on the building site he was working on - and one day he was watching bricklayers building a garden wall and said "I could do that". As they were just about to go for lunch they said "OK, have a go while we're having lunch".

When they came back he had finished the wall they were working on, and had done a considerable section of the next one

In the UK (and perhaps elsewhere?) bricklayers are paid 'per brick', and by the time he was 18 years old he'd bought and insured a sports car - the insurance must have cost a fortune. He had also won UK Bricklayer of the Year (he was the faster bricklayer in the UK) and was into the European finals - I've no idea how he got on there.

I work at a high school (as a TA) and they are teaching the kids using Lego Robotics. The teachers, and parents, think their kids are learning how to program. They are doing no such thing, they are learning how to put together examples published by Lego. I'm sure there will be kids that are "naturals" that will go along and say "I can do that" and will but that is a (tiny) minority, the majority are learning nothing. I see it the same as when Phonetics was the great new reading tool - dropped now. Calculators were going to be available to everyone so no need to learn basic maths anymore - dropped now. Progress is a wonderful thing when it is.

BTW, I doubt playing with Lego had anything to do with the boys abilities.

Mike.

Pommie said:

I work at a high school (as a TA) and they are teaching the kids using Lego Robotics. The teachers, and parents, think their kids are learning how to program. They are doing no such thing, they are learning how to put together examples published by Lego. I'm sure there will be kids that are "naturals" that will go along and say "I can do that" and will but that is a (tiny) minority, the majority are learning nothing. I see it the same as when Phonetics was the great new reading tool - dropped now. Calculators were going to be available to everyone so no need to learn basic maths anymore - dropped now. Progress is a wonderful thing when it is.

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Phonics (not Phonetics) is still taught in UK schools - no sign of it been discontinued, in fact it's pushed more than ever now.

Long after my time though, we were taught A, B, C.

Pommie said:

BTW, I doubt playing with Lego had anything to do with the boys abilities.

Mike.

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He learnt to build with bricks using Lego, there's little difference between Lego bricks and real ones, the exact same principles apply.

Nigel Goodwin said:

He learnt to build with bricks using Lego, there's little difference between Lego bricks and real ones, the exact same principles apply.

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I doubt that very much. Lego doesn't have mortar which is the hardest part of laying (real) bricks. And of course, keeping it straight which Lego does automatically.

And I'm surprised that Phonics (turns out I had Chicken Pox when we did spelling) is still taught.

Mike.

Pommie said:

I doubt that very much. Lego doesn't have mortar which is the hardest part of laying (real) bricks. And of course, keeping it straight which Lego does automatically.

And I'm surprised that Phonics (turns out I had Chicken Pox when we did spelling) is still taught.

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Apparently it works?.

Nigel Goodwin said:

Apparently it works?.

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I really thought it had been discredited. (I'm assuming Phonics)

Mike.

Pommie said:

I really thought it had been discredited. (I'm assuming Phonics)

Mike.

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Yes, Phonics, and no, it's not been discredited, and over the last few years it's been pushed more and more.

LOL

Two teams, one of 'engineers' one of ' managers ' , split into two rooms, the engineers had a pile of lego bricks and told not leave the room , the Managers had a sheet of paper with a picture of a lego brick man on it , with instructions, said something like " the engineers have 15 minutes to build this man ".. The engineers waited , the managers discussed the layout of the bricks, the time slipped by..... " Time up " the presenter said , you failed , "What us" said the managers , the presenter had to explain they hadn't told the engineers what to do with the lego bricks and it had not dawned on the managers to send someone to the other room and provide instructions... This really happened . ( i was one of the engineers ).