I don’t agree with the metaphor that “ Programming is how engineers talk to machines just like how plumbers talk to pipes by sweating them.” Programming is more like how people in China learn English to talk to people in America. And I do think programming is the new English.

Indeed, not everyone in China needs to learn English just like not everyone needs to learn to be a plumber, and I believe they could live a happy life without being able to speak English. However, the reality is English is one of the most important part of education now in China. Part of Mr. Larson’s article mentioned “ And just like how not everyone who learns to write will go on to become a professional writer — nor everyone who learns arithmetic will go on to become a professional mathematician — not everyone who learns to code will go on to become a software developer. But all people who learn these things will be immensely better off as a result of their efforts.” Not everyone in China who learns English became a translator, or English teacher. But all of them who learned English acquired another skill to communicate with English speaking people, and are able to access the resources, knowledge etc. only available in English.

And I also agree with “programming is how human talk to machines”. Indeed, I don’t need to learn how to program a huge project to make an AI assistant. However, if I want to take full advantage of my AI assistant, say if I want to ask Siri to take me to the bank. The response from Siri would be: “Which Bank? Tap the one you want.” But, what if I want to go to the edge of the river instead of a financial institution? What should I tell Siri? So, people who wants to take full advantage of this computer era need to find a way to talk to Siri so as to efficiently find your answer. And the way might just be programming.