[plt-scheme] Re: [plt-edu] Leads on Liberal Arts Education and Programming

--- Marco Morazan <morazanm at gmail.com> wrote:

> [snip]
> 
> It seems to me that we tend to associate programming
> only with
> computer programming which does not seem quite
> right. Generals program
> their armies to achieve a military goals, companies
> program their
> workers to achieve financial goals, the Argentine
> soccer team is
> programmed to win world cups, etc. Are living
> organisms not
> programmed? How do cells know what to do? I
> certainly do not tell my
> cells what to do to keep me alive. In fact, I do not
> know what they do
> to achieve this (and the truth is that nobody really
> knows......we
> only have a vague idea of how cells work).
> Programming is really
> fundamental just like reading, writing, and
> mathematics (beyond
> arithmetic from my perspective). It is part of our
> daily lives and
> needs to be studied by all. Perhaps, it is more
> fundamental than
> reading, writing, and mathematics.......as a species
> we needed to
> program a hunt before we invented reading, writing,
> and mathematics.

This reminds me of the following passage from the
Forward of SICP (see
http://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/full-text/book/book-Z-H-5.html):

----- text follows immediately after this line -----
Educators, generals, dieticians, psychologists, and
parents program. Armies, students, and some societies
are programmed. An assault on large problems employs a
succession of programs, most of which spring into
existence en route. These programs are rife with
issues that appear to be particular to the problem at
hand. To appreciate programming as an intellectual
activity in its own right you must turn to computer
programming; you must read and write computer programs
-- many of them. It doesn't matter much what the
programs are about or what applications they serve.
What does matter is how well they perform and how
smoothly they fit with other programs in the creation
of still greater programs. The programmer must seek
both perfection of part and adequacy of collection.
----- text ends immediately before this line -----

> Respectfully submitted for your consideration,

Respectfully referenced for your consideration.

Benjamin L. Russell