Computer programming is - or should be regarded as - more basic, more fundamental a skill than the ability to use/build/maintain specialized machines. A toaster processes sliced bread; whereas a computer processes information, which is global, ubiquitous and open-ended in its application.
The ability to write a computer program is too broadly powerful across a whole swath of human endeavours to keep in the hands of professional programmers, in the same way that the ability to read and write was too powerful to keep in the hands of professional scribes.
Our present-day society is inconceivable without the advent of social literacy, starting in the 15th century and accelerating through the 18th and 19th centuries. If we allow programming to become a disciplinary cul-de-sac instead of spreading it as widely as possible, what potential future society are we cutting off?
The ability to write a computer program is too broadly powerful across a whole swath of human endeavours to keep in the hands of professional programmers, in the same way that the ability to read and write was too powerful to keep in the hands of professional scribes.
Our present-day society is inconceivable without the advent of social literacy, starting in the 15th century and accelerating through the 18th and 19th centuries. If we allow programming to become a disciplinary cul-de-sac instead of spreading it as widely as possible, what potential future society are we cutting off?