Most beginners in programming sooner or later come across such an enchanting phrase: “Programming is simple, anyone can learn it.” This phrase is accompanied by a threatening message that people who do gatekeeping should stop. With this article I want to say that this is not true. Programming is hard, not for everyone, and while everyone can do it now, most definitely shouldn’t write code.
Programming is easily accessible
When stupid people say that programming is easy, that anyone can do it, they really mean the accessibility of the realm of programming. If you have the simplest means of accessing the Internet, it’s easy enough to have access to learning resources. None of the sciences are as accessible as computer science, and most of the work on it is openly available – computer science thrives on the Internet, and although some branches of it are closed, most content is freely available and thrives on this accessibility. You can download compilers, editors, IDEs, even access documentation, discuss your problems with other people, and so on. This is a huge community, the level of hospitality and openness of which is incomparable with any other science in the history of mankind.
Indeed, you don’t need to know much, some programs can be written in just half an hour of programming. Programming is as accessible as no other science is available.
But easy accessibility does not mean ease of learning. If I can mix three ingredients and make an omelet, it doesn’t make me a chef. I can cook several dishes, but I will never say that cooking is easy. Cooking is a challenging task that requires patience and attention to detail, a lot of knowledge and experience.
Programming is a curious combination of creativity and hard science; but no one has ever said that creativity is “simple”. Some things are easy for some people to master, others are difficult to understand.
