In contrast to your AP CS experience, most students in my lower division cohort in college who took AP CS in high school were better prepared for the crash course we were about to take into C++ templates and operator overloading, having been pounded with Java a year (or in some cases, even two years) prior.
I, on the other hand, had started a web-based photo sharing company with a friend using Python at this point, yet was still struggling with malloc. Going through lower division really made me appreciate my deficiencies as a self taught coder and gave me deep respect for the need to truly grok first principles and theory.
I truly resonate with your sentiment. I don't know that everyone should learn to code, but educational experiences like the one I've shared above make me think that everyone should have good access to proper computer science education, at as early of an age as possible, in case they want to develop their craft.
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In contrast to your AP CS experience, most students in my lower division cohort in college who took AP CS in high school were better prepared for the crash course we were about to take into C++ templates and operator overloading, having been pounded with Java a year (or in some cases, even two years) prior.
I, on the other hand, had started a web-based photo sharing company with a friend using Python at this point, yet was still struggling with malloc. Going through lower division really made me appreciate my deficiencies as a self taught coder and gave me deep respect for the need to truly grok first principles and theory.
I truly resonate with your sentiment. I don't know that everyone should learn to code, but educational experiences like the one I've shared above make me think that everyone should have good access to proper computer science education, at as early of an age as possible, in case they want to develop their craft.