While programming will indeed usefully equip one better to understand computer scientific discourses, it should NOT be taken as the necessary precondition to engaging with the computer sciences and all who consider themselves scholars of the humanities should realize that the discourse of programming is only the technical jargon with which computer scientists address many of the very same questions that one encounters every day in the humanities.
Quote from Evan Donahue, A “Hello World” Apart (why humanities students should NOT learn to program)
This quote captures the very reason for which I believe that humanities students should not necessarily need to know programming. While learning to code can be a valuable skill for people in digital humanities, it is not necessarily a requirement for success in the field.
Coming into Carleton, I had a small amount of programming experience, but nothing substantial. I began to take more and more CS classes here, and after taking data structures, I actually thought that I wanted to be a CS major. I struggled with coding, but I very much enjoyed seeing lines of code create useful outputs. But after taking a couple more CS courses, I found myself not feeling any better about my coding abilities, and I found myself more and more frustrated in CS courses despite the interest still being there. Eventually, switching majors was key to maintaining an interest in what can be accomplished with computers, but I personally had to take a step back from what is traditionally seen as programming.
While, I’m still able to create basic code without too much difficulty, I understand that not every student will have this same experience, as other concepts that CS majors did with ease I struggled with. For example, I was able to make this output without too much issue (this is the html code):
<!DOCTYPE html>
<!-- This is a comment. It doesn't show up in the rendered page -->
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<title>JS Bin</title>
</head>
<!-- Above are the head elements that don't get rendered directly, and below is the body, which you can see in the browser output -->
<body>
<h1>Woah, this is a website!</h1>
<p id="demo" class="big">It's pretty cool that I can make this, I will say that. And students should be encouraged to be able to make basic code like this, but not make it required.</p>
<figure>
<img src = "https://chorus.stimg.co/22510301/ows_0a1009af_bd36_4113_a45a_f82112213fcd.jpg?fit=crop&crop=faces", alt = "Alison Byerly" width="200" height="200">
<figcaption>Woah, it's Ali B! Look at that.</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2 class="purples">Oooh fun style I found</h1>
<p id="date"></p>
<p id="name"></p>
</body>
</html>And here is the CSS code:
/* this is what a css comment looks like */
/* Uncomment the p.big declaration below by putting your cursor inside the commented text and hitting (Cmd+'/') */
body {
background: #d5ebda;
}
@font-face {
font-family: 'Rocher';
src: url(https://assets.codepen.io/9632/RocherColorGX.woff2);
}
h2 {
font-family: 'Rocher';
text-align: center;
font-size: 30px;
display: flex;
}
li {
padding-bottom: 6px;
}
@font-palette-values --Purples {
font-family: Rocher;
base-palette: 6;
}
.purples {
font-palette: --Purples;
}Resulting in this:
Coding requires a significant amount of practice and experience to become proficient, and it can be challenging for students to balance the demands of learning to code with their other responsibilities. Additionally, coding is a constantly changing field, so students may find it difficult to keep up with the latest developments. Therefore, students in the humanities shouldn’t feel burdened with learning how to code while there are other important concepts they can focus on.
Furthermore, there are other important aspects of digital humanities that may be overlooked if the focus is primarily on coding. Digital humanities is an interdisciplinary field, and students should also learn about the methods, theories, and practices of the humanistic disciplines that they are working with. For example, students should learn about literary analysis, history, or cultural studies.
Overall, while learning to code can be a valuable skill for digital humanities students, it is not necessarily a requirement for success in the field. There are many other skills that are important for digital humanities students to learn, and digital humanities is an interdisciplinary field that goes beyond coding. Students should consider their own interests, skills, and goals when deciding whether or not to learn to code.
5 thoughts on “Programming: A Useful yet Not Necessary Skill”
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Great post, Parker! I really like your website 🙂 As someone who also enjoys CS courses and content while centering myself on a different field (and who thought they would be a CS major when applying to college!), I can certainly relate to what you said. I agree that the minutiae of coding isn’t a required skill for digital humanities collaboration.
Hi I really enjoyed your website design, but I still think humanities students should learn to code. It’s not like I advocate making it a mandatory course to pass, but every humanities student should be encouraged to have a try, whether they continue or not is their own choice, of course.
I think you provide very interesting points about why students should not have to learn to code. I also really enjoy your website that you provided as an example. I think your argument make sense, but I think that learning how to code really enables a student to interact with a whole nother aspect with the humanities sphere, but I still like your argument.
I agree with your argument Parker, although I must say I am quite jealous of your ability to make such a cool little page. I had a pretty similar experience as you, although on a much smaller scale since I struggled with even the most basic code. I really like what you said about it being an interdisciplinary field, which in my mind opens it up to a larger field of academics without ensuring that everyone is experienced in every aspect of it.
This is a great argument for why students don’t need to learn how to code. I like the way you structured your argument because it doesn’t defend the opinion that students SHOULDN’T learn how to code, but that they don’t NEED to in order to be successful in the digital humanities field. I do agree with that statement; I find coding to be a very useful skill, yet I acknowledge that there still exist many ever-expanding and practical fields of work and interest that don’t require coding.