Programmingculture Culture
This book is about the rise of computer programmers and the emerging social, technical, and commercial worldview that I call programming culture, which took a distinctive form during the early decades of microcomputers and personal computing, c. 1970–1995. It is a popular history of coding that explores the experiences of novice computer users, tinkerers, hackers, and power users, as well as the ideals and aspirations of computer scientists, educators, engineers, and entrepreneurs. A central part of this story is the Learn-to-program movement learn-to-program movement, which germinated in government and university labs during the 1950s, gained momentum through counterculture experiments in the 1960s and early 1970s, became a broad-based educational agenda in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and was transformed by commercialization practices in the 1990s and 2000s. The learn-to-program movement sought to make computers more understandable, imprint useful technical skills, establish shared values, build virtual communities, and offer economic opportunities for technology enthusiasts. The movement also supported user communities, schools, and emerging commercial industries, many of which benefited from the utility and connectivity provided by digital electronic computers.
The learn-to-program movement had its ups and downs, but eventually set the stage for 21st century expressions of computational literacy, such as the Hour of Code Hour of Code, YouTube YouTube and Lynda courseware Lynda courseware, Certification programs certification programs, Coding boot camps coding boot camps, and University degrees in disciplines university degrees in disciplines such as Computer science computer science, Software engineering software engineering, Information technology information technology, Artificial intelligence (AI) artificial intelligence, and (most recently) Human–computer interaction human–computer interaction. As the title of this book suggests, the learn-to-program movement fostered a groundswell of popular support for computing culture in America, resulting in what I call a Code Nation—a globally-connected society that is saturated with computer technology and enchanted by software and its creation.
The learn-to-program movement (or more broadly, the software-maker movement) has inspired both disciples and critics. It has evolved over time and its advocates have traversed numerous professional boundaries and cultural institutions. The movement is historically distinct but also follows the patterns and rhythms of earlier socio-technical transformations, including the introduction of Steam-powered technologies steam-powered technologies during the Industrial Revolution, the electrification of American businesses and homes, and the production of automobiles and “car culture” in the early 20th century.
Borrowing terminology from information science and the history of technology, the learn-to-program movement is identifiable as part of the “diffusion” and “domestication” phases that take place when a successful new technology is spread or “propagated” across society.2 Scholars from the field of business and economic history also recognize this transition as a key period in which a new discovery or invention is widely adopted and made useful for the general public, resulting in new consumer behaviors and potential changes in the way that a market or the broader economy functions.3 To achieve wide-spread diffusion, the movement often benefits from sustaining ideologies that strengthen the allegiance of followers and justify the time, resources, and commitment that are necessary for the movement’s success.
Beyond hopes for material gain, America’s expanding programming culture can also be viewed as a manifestation of the deep and abiding cultural tendency that many describe as “technological enthusiasm.”4 Technological enthusiasm Technological enthusiasm is an upbeat, optimistic appraisal of new technical systems that not only stoke the engines of capitalism, but provide access to the ideals embedded in what is known as the American Project American Project and the American Dream American Dream. The publishers of PC software systems readily participated in this vision, as each wave of entrepreneur–engineer strived to improve their software, best their rivals, and boost the productivity of corporations and the general public. By the 1980s, software creation had taken the form of a consensus ideology that united many Americans in a common, accessible dream of a better future through computing. As I will discuss in Chapter 2, this enthusiasm brought additional computing mythologies to the fore, and their collective use contributed to the positive view that American’s held about PCs and software in the years to come. Formula translation (FORTRAN)
1.2Programminglearning languageLearning a Language
By Computer language the late 1960s, programming emerged from America’s research labs and government institutions to have a direct influence on universities, primary and secondary schools (K-12 in the U.S.), and the nation’s businesses. But what type of mental activity did programming entail? How should students take their first steps when learning to program a computer? In search of an analogy, some specialists suggested that learning to program was a bit like learning to read or speak in a Foreign language foreign language. Utilizing the comparison, some educators pressed for the inclusion of computer languages in their school’s curriculum. Rather than taking a year or two of a spoken language, such as Spanish or German, a few innovative programs offered courses in computer language instruction, including FORTRAN.Formula translation (FORTRAN) Formula translating systemFormula translation (FORTRAN) FORTRAN, Logo, BASIC, and Pascal Pascal.
School administrators eager to provide practical job training (and to mollify prospective students and their parents) broadened the definition of “foreign language” to include instruction in computer languages, algorithms, and database management. The popular press advocated for coding instruction in newspapers and special reports, and computer book and magazine publishers released hundreds of titles to help students build simple applications for time-sharing systems and the first PCs.
No one argued that computer languages were the same as human languages, of course. But programming advocates pointed to the many parallels that they observed in the structure of spoken and computer grammars, and to the ways that basic logic and reasoning were gradually introduced to students. Instruction in programming seemed to permit access to the private world of a computer and its “brain” or CPU.Central processing unit (CPU) Central processing unit (CPU) central processing unit (CPU). Programming was also portrayed as a valuable exercise in logical thinking and problem solving. It was a mental activity that provided a conceptual introduction to how computers worked, as well as a deep dive into logic and syntax. For all these reasons, computer literacy advocates recommended that those who planned to use computers in the future should learn to code as soon as possible. “Even if you don’t write programs yourself,” Nelson, Ted Ted Nelson advised in 1974, “you may have to work with people who do.”5
In the early years of the electronic computer revolution, it was the imposing image of the new machines that seemed to fascinate the public. The physicality of mainframe computers was reinforced by images of large devices whirring and blinking in popular films such as Desk Set (1957), 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970), Logan’s Run (1976), and War Games (1983). As computers became more reliable and better understood, however, the focus of popular attention turned away from computing machinery to software, the programs that ran on computers, and the coding experts who wrote code in high-level languages like FORTRAN, COBOL COBOL, BASIC, and C. The computer industry went through many transitions in the 1960s and 1970s, adding minicomputers and other special-purpose machines. Gradually, the attention of the computing community shifted from scientific and military systems to the application software that powered new types of businesses and helped them manage information.
By the 1980s and 1990s, it became apparent that there were not enough qualified programmers to design, build, and maintain the software systems needed in the U.S. as the country expanded its computational interests into new areas. Although the academic discipline of computer science had taken shape in America’s colleges and universities, these programs could not graduate enough scientists and engineers
