Perscriptocalculophobia : Fear of Programming Computers

Everyone knows someone who's afraid of programming. I've run into so many people who say, "I can't program. Don't you need Math for that?" Or, "It's too hard! I'm not trained/certified." Or even, "I've never done it, and would never be able to do it."

Buffalo Biscuits!

I've helped a number of people overcome their fear of programming, simply by showing them that they've been programming all their lives with the following:

"Have you ever written out a shopping list, gone to the supermarket, bought groceries, made it half-way home when you realized you forgot something, gone back to the store, picked up the missing item, returned home, and made a tasty dinner?"

After they say, "yes," I tell them:

"Then you've designed, coded, tested, debugged, implemented, and deployed a program. Only the language is different. Shall we begin?"

Believe me, if I can do it, anyone can.

-v

In reply to How to abate the Ubiquitous Fear of Programming by Velaki

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