Coding as a Product Designer
Logic, problem solving, and organization are some of the core interests that led me to Industrial Design. In my third year of design studies, I knew what I wanted to focus on- Computing and Technology, which directed me to this course-Programming as a Design tool for Prototyping. But how would coding complement product design? That I was unsure of.
I sure did learn a lot about programming in the last two classes. Getting to know that the modern technology that we know of now, has actually been discovered before decades. The notable computing devices like Sketchpad, Data 2000, the first mouse-an experimental pointing device in 1964 by Douglas Englebart were all great examples of technology that amazed me. Even a modern day computer user would feel green with envy after watching the film-The Mother of all Demos, the speed and ease with which Engelbart moved words, sentences and outlined headings on the page. While most computer geniuses focused on making computers intelligent (artificial intelligence), Engelbart tried working on how computers would make humans smarter, or what he called augmented intelligence.
Learning that the idea of chatbots is as old as computing itself. Just like Artificial Intelligence, the whole hype around chatbot might make it seem as if it’s a newfangled concept, when it is not. ELIZA, one of the first chatbots, was developed in 1966, which intended to trick its users by making them believe that they were having a conversation with a real human being. The assignment “Wizards of Oz” revolved around similar idea of creating conversational agents like Siri or Alexa.
In addition to getting to know about the core of programming, we also learned a few UNIX codes and concepts. They were basic and easy to remember. I’m excited use these codes in our project that we would be designing.
To sum up, these two classes helped me in understanding-
· The significance of the computer as a tool for advancing human abilities:
· The impact of computer programming on cognitive ability
· The importance of software to the computer industry
Through this course, I’m hoping to use programming as a prototyping tool that would help me to enhance design thinking and to create better thought-out-decisions as a Product Designer.
Also, here’s an extract that I enjoyed reading from “Hackers and Painters” by Paul Graham-
“Because hackers are makers rather than scientists, the right place to look for metaphors is not in the sciences, but among other kinds of makers. What else can painting teach us about hacking?
One thing we can learn, or at least confirm, from the example of painting is how to learn to hack. You learn to paint mostly by doing it. Ditto for hacking.”
