Now this is a novel approach. Kentucky has made it law that students can take programming to meet their foreign language requirements.

I think this is a great idea. One of the important things to remember when learning to program is that all programming languages follow standard syntax, structure and grammar just like regular spoken languages. You learn how to assemble phrases, sentences, and paragraphs that result in something being communicated. As we’ll soon learn, it’s communicated to the CPU first and then to the user, but it still needs to be written out properly.

I wonder if this will lead to other districts/municipalities/states doing the same thing?  I respect people who can speak multiple languages, I can speak a few words here and there in a few, but I can’t speak one fluently. I also respect fluent programmers and their command of *those* languages. Hopefully, this will allow many students who already have an interest in technology – and perhaps already speak a second language or more – to get a head start in coding and begin to develop those skills formally to put into use later.

If you would like to experiment with code yourself, there is a great website over at code.org where you can learn all about programming – if you really want to see what a program looks like, you can go to the section on building an iPhone app in your browser and it will place you right into a programming environment complete with Objective-C code (the code apps are written in) to start. I like that because I think C++ and C# are the best languages out there right now, and Objective-C is as close to those as Code.org gets.

Or, if it’s an emergency and you have to act like you know what you’re doing right away, just go to this site and start typing anything you want – BAM! You’re a programmer. Sort of.