What coding can teach you!

Manan Khurma

In the digital age, coding is basic literacy. We’re only at the beginning of a technological revolution, with the world as we know it evolving at an unprecedented pace. As we step into a future more digitally connected than ever, we must be able to understand and communicate with the technology around us.

Learning to code at a young age puts kids in an advantageous position. Not only does it equip children with the technical know-how that can lead to a thriving career in tech, but it also fosters soft skills like:

Problem-solving abilities

When learning to code, kids can encounter a multitude of problems having to ensure the user-centricity of a program, debugging the problematic lines, keeping up with new frameworks, tools, and libraries, time estimation, etc. They learn to make their way around all kinds of problems both inside and out of the software.

Creativity

The process starts off with identifying a problem and experimenting to come up with unique, creative solutions. Creativity is majorly boosted as kids bring the product of their abstract thinking into reality and have the freedom to create whatever they desire to. In the process of transforming their ideas into powerful creations, kids can build their confidence and foster progress.

Resilience

When kids learn to code, they develop the ability to bounce back after failure. They learn that failure isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and in fact, it can often be something positive because it serves as a learning opportunity.

Consider the following situation: Ravi chooses a bear that has a star on its foot and is wearing a scarf or a bow, but not glasses. Which bear does Ravi choose?

A. Bear with glasses, a red scarf, and a star on his left foot

B. Bear with glasses, red scarf, green bow, and a star on his left foot

C. Bear with a red scarf, and a star on his left foot

Answer: Ravi chose C. The bear in Option (C) has a star on its foot, is wearing a scarf, and does not have glasses.

This is Computational Thinking. Ravi had a specific set of requirements- comprising 3 different statements. This task requires the use of Boolean logic. This means in order to meet Ravi’s requirements, every single one of the 3 statements about the bear needs to be true.

Perhaps, there was a time not too long ago when not knowing how to use or interact with a computer wasn’t considered a deal-breaker. However, in the technologically dominated future that we are headed into, interaction with computers is a must, and we all need to learn how to do it.

The writer is Founder and CEO, Cuemath.

For more Math tips, visit www.cuemath.com