The Way We Organize Ourselves

Music, of course, shares several skills with computer science. The earliest UNIVAC programmers recognized that the sequential nature of programming was similar to that of music and used this insight to create code that played music. The musicians of the 1970s realized that computers could analyze sounds and produce novel and expressive tones. Clearly, the musicians of our age have grasped the power of synthesis promoted by computing technology and commonly use digital methods to create everything from small-scale musicals on Steve Jobs to commercially available popular music. So it´s appropriate that several musicians, such as the rapper Snoop Dogg and Black-Eyed Peas front man will.i.am, have added their voice to the group supporting Hour of Code, an effort to introduce children to the nature of programming. Hour of Code offers short tutorials on coding and asks professionals to spend an hour helping students work through a lesson. The value of programming as an educational discipline goes far beyond the desire not to live in ignorance.