Data First: Teaching coders not to give up

# Data First Teaching coders not to give up

Ato Mensah Co-‐founder, Bitstrapped

Data First: Teaching coders not to give up Entrecoder.com

The Problem

An es&mated 1M tech-‐related jobs will go unfilled by 2020

The largest por;on of these jobs are so=ware development roles

How do we create more coders ?


Web Development

This discussion will focus on coders of web applica&ons

Because the top 5 most valuable companies in the world are Apple, Google, Facebook, Amazon, Microso=

Their so=ware creates interac;ons powered by the web


Steps to NOT give up coding

Learn how to design interfaces

Find a purpose

Define yourself

Learn a Database

Learn to write procedures

Finding purpose



I couldn’t learn coding because it was boring and I had to go through the boring stuff to get the interes;ng stuff. And my teacher was boring. I was good at math and like computers, but didn’t quite know what I was geNng into. I started with cobal.

-‐ Ashley


Common excuses for giving up


Coding is Boring.


Coding requires too much math.


It’s too ;me consuming.


Coding is for nerds.


Too Many Languages.


Syntax is confusing.


Teachers are boring.


No Goals.


It’s too free to learn.


No Purpose.

We give up when we can't relate what we are doing to a real problem


The truth is …


Do it because you want to solve your own problems. Automate and improve your life. Build an app to help people.

-‐ Andrei Soare

(The Next Web)


Are you a coder, a programmer or a soLware engineer

Define Yourself

Don Knuth “I might be 1 person of 50”

3% of people can think computa;onally

h]ps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajlh7l1KCW8



Typically refers to a programmer with limited experience who writes simple programs.

Coder

A so=ware engineer is a licensed professional engineer who is schooled and skilled in the applica;on of engineering discipline to the crea;on of so=ware.

SoLware Engineer

Programmer A person who writes computer programs. Typically can pick up any language with some ;me.


Layers of soLware development

Coders, Programmers

SoLware Engineers Computer Science Math Computa;onal


Layers of soLware development

FRONT-‐END HTML, CSS, JavaScript,

BACK-‐END PHP, Node.js, Ruby, JAVA, Python

BACK-‐END (Database) MySQL, Postgres, SQL


Learning Web Development

FRONT-‐END HTML, CSS, JavaScript,

BACK-‐END PHP, Node.js, Ruby, JAVA, Python

BACK-‐END (Database) MySQL, Postgres, SQL

Degree of Difficulty

Easiest The Interface

The Language

The Storage


We assume that because we are teaching web development, we need to start with HTML, CSS JavaScript, the languages of

the web browser

Assump&on


The longer it takes a student to learn databases, the longer they stay

disconnected from the data, the purpose behind the app.

Maybe we are wrong…


Learn a Database

Everything is a data

InpuNng / Storing / Retrieving Data is the most important concept in programming



Learn a Database

#Data First


Data First?

SQL = The Language of the Database

The 9 Most In-‐Demand Programming Languages of 2016

Structured Query Language (SQL)


MySQL, PostgreSQL and Microso= SQL Server power are big businesses, small businesses, hospitals, banks, universi;es.

Almost every interac;on you have with technology eventually touches

something SQL.

All mobile have access to a SQL database called SQLite. They also store everything in central databases over the cloud.

Learn these databases


Classic Web Form

Movie Maker

Sarah Sheppard

1.  Learn to collect basic form data

2.  Learn to process the data

3.  Learn to place it in a database

4.  Learn to later retrieve this data and display it


{ name: “Sarah Sheppard”, age: 30, descrip;on: “Movie Maker” }

Data Structure (JSON)

Form submission over the internet


Database Table

Learn to write procedures


Computers are good at following instruc;ons, but not at reading your mind.

-‐ Don Knuth



Procedure

A series of ac;ons conducted in a certain order or manner

The ac;ons of a procedure are a set of instruc;ons wri]en in a

language



Choose a programming language

?


Choose a programming language

PHP Ruby on Rails Node.js Python


Picking up your kid up from school

Picking up li^le Adrienne

Language = Engrish

Think Procedurally


Time (data storage)

You current State (data storage)

Computa&ons (inputs) (data + thinking)

Ac&on (Decision) (Functions)

Wed, 3:15pm

Wed, 3:16pm

Wed, 3:18pm

Wed, 3:20pm

Wed, 3:22pm

SiNng on couch watching

Judge Judy

Becoming a li]le anxious

Off the couch, walking to the kitchen for a snack

Grabbing keys

SiNng in Car

•  On wed teacher usually lets the

kids out 10 minutes late. •  But I probably want to get

ahead of the other parents in the parking lot queue or we will waste more ;me

•  Oh, last ;me I was late he had a fit

•  But damn, this episode of

Judge Judy is so good, I want to watch another 5 minute.

•  I guess I be]er consider traffic too.

•  Did I fill the gas tank?

Shi= posi;on

Stand up start walking

Reach for keys

Walk to door, lock the door and head to the school

"I think you can learn any subject be]er if you have a way to express it as a procedure (algorithm) instead of a set of facts".

-‐ Don Knuth



Humans do a lot of ac;ons by following procedures backed by data stored in memory and environment data processed in real-‐;me

What we do wrong when teaching code:

1.  We take a long ;me to get to the procedures 2.  We spend a lot of focus on fundamentals of programming 3.  Defini;ons and Facts 4.  Latest and greatest frameworks (“best prac;ces”) 5.   We teach with bias based on our experience

We over complicate so=ware and the process

because of our experience


#Data First


DataFirst means you learn how about the database first, before learning to code the procedures to interact with it.

Learn Data before you master coding


A be]er way to master coding

If you are not formally trained computer scien;sts



Learn how to design interfaces

This topic will not be covered… DATA FIRST


Learn more database and more procedures

Resources to manage a local database:

Data.World Social network for Datasets. Download.

PgAdmin

h]ps://www.pgadmin.org

MySQL Workbench h]ps://www.mysql.com/products/workbench

SQLPro for MSSQL

h]ps://www.macsqlclient.com Data First: Teaching coders not to give up Entrecoder.com

Download this presenta;on at:

entrecoder.com

Follow me on Twi]er:

@realmensah Data First: Teaching coders not to give up Entrecoder.com

Thank You


Technology

Data First: Teaching coders not to give up