Did I ever said snap is dumbed down? Read my post again.
I said it would get the undeserved reputation of being "dumber" than "real programming".
Did I ever say Logo was unsuccessful? It was at the very least tremendously popular in schools. But it didn't bring more underrepresented demographics into the fold.
Did I ever say snap's UI was pink?
Before ascribing ulterior motives or unconscious reasons to me, please make sure to read what I wrote properly.
If it wasn't clear, I've got nothing against Snap and I think it's very good to have a visual programming language that tries to support important CS concepts like recursion and closures. I've got nothing against Snap - rather the contrary.
I just thinks the premise of this post is misguided and the spirit behind it is actually detrimental to its stated goals.
Snap could be great as an engaging teaching tools for novice programmers of ALL demographics. But marketing as an aid for increasing diversity is not just wrong, but could be even harmful, since it could pave the road for technical segregation.
Okay, fair enough. Sorry for misunderstanding you.
But I'm still not clear about what the turnoff is supposed to be. Marketing something as an "aid for increasing diversity" to teachers seems likely to be appealing to them. Teachers are interested in reaching all their students, particularly in a place like NYC.
Maybe it's not great for reaching kids directly, but that's a different marketing campaign. (Snap doesn't seem to be designed to let kids jump right in like they would with a game.)
Technical segregation seems unlikely; assuming the kids become genuinely interested in programming, they will move on to other languages like they did from Logo.
Did I ever say Logo was unsuccessful? It was at the very least tremendously popular in schools. But it didn't bring more underrepresented demographics into the fold.
Did I ever say snap's UI was pink?
Before ascribing ulterior motives or unconscious reasons to me, please make sure to read what I wrote properly.
If it wasn't clear, I've got nothing against Snap and I think it's very good to have a visual programming language that tries to support important CS concepts like recursion and closures. I've got nothing against Snap - rather the contrary.
I just thinks the premise of this post is misguided and the spirit behind it is actually detrimental to its stated goals.
Snap could be great as an engaging teaching tools for novice programmers of ALL demographics. But marketing as an aid for increasing diversity is not just wrong, but could be even harmful, since it could pave the road for technical segregation.