Ms. Mendoza,

I must apologize at the start, I am an old coot, I’ve been playing/programming since 1972. I have been a computer science professor since 1992. That said, I fear I must disagree with your premise that drag-and-drop is the way to develop new and wonderful applications. In my humble experience, that is what I call Lego Programming. It’s great for simple things, like simple phone apps. There I agree. However, it is poor at best for doing unique, wonderful, powerful, new things. If my only tools are the Lego bricks, then my thinking has to be limited to what those bricks can do. On the other hand, if I have a 3-D printer, and can make my own bricks, to do exactly what I want them to do, then my creativity is only limited by what I can conceive, not by the strictures of what the pre-made blocks can do.

Learning to program fundamentally changes your brain, the way you think, the way you look at the world. The more fundamental the programming language, the more it teaches you about the lack of limits in your design. Were it possible, I would ask that every computer programmer/Lego builder first learn an assembler language. Yes, it is a PIA to program in assembler, yes, it takes an unbelievable number of lines of code to do anything. But if you really learn assembler you will never look at a programming problem the same way, because you will know that there is NOTHING you can’t make that wonderful beast do….all you have to do is figure out the algorithm. Is Lego Programming faster, absolutely. Is Lego Programming more efficient to turn out mundane code, without a doubt. Is Lego Programming the way to invent new, exciting, unique, efficient, killer code….errrr….I don’t think so, and I really haven’t seen it work in my 44 years of dealing with the beast.

That said, perhaps I am a product of my past, perhaps I am a curmudgeon, perhaps I am just an old fart…who should be put out to pasture. I just wanted to give you another side of the programming problem. I do hope, some fine day, that you will take a look at learning an assembler language. Or, maybe not, as you might well not be satisfied with the blue, red, yellow, and green blocks and how they limit and constrain your imagination.

Have a great day, and I’m sorry if I offended you. All the best.