Raise Your Computer Literacy to Mastery

There are different levels of computer literacy.

1. Beginner - You know how to turn on a computer, open a web browser, use email and a word processor, etc. and maybe how to copy files around.  If you have been using a computer for many years and this is what you know, you are still a beginner.
2. Power User - In addition to what the Beginner knows you also know how to tweak operating system settings and how to type some commands in a terminal or command window.
3. Master - You know all the above and you also understand programming concepts.  Without this knowledge you are really at the mercy of the computer and software providers.

I like to compare this to understanding something about cars and how they work.  People who drive cars without automotive literacy face big challenges when buying a car (especially a used car), when the car breaks down on the road, and when bringing the car to the mechanic for repair.  Understanding cars improves driving skills, personal safety, and saves you time and money.

When schools first started teaching young people about computers they had a high concept of literacy and they tried to teach programming using languages like Logo, and Pilot and BASIC and sometimes Pascal.  Over time this eroded and computer class became more about just teaching the Beginner skill set described above.

Adults now are wowed by how much young people know about computers, but this is usually just a knowledge of computer trivia and of surface details, and not a deep understanding of computers at all.  We must be careful not to be hoodwinked by the semblance of mastery.

Real mastery is achieved only if you understand programming and have learned to make the machine do what you want.  Otherwise your computer will only do what other people have programmed it to do, and is that really what a so called personal computer is supposed to be?  I am including phones and tablets when I use the word computer, because clearly these things are computers.

A non-obvious benefit of mastery of computer literacy is the personal growth that happens when you learn to program because of the way it sharpens the mind.  Programming teaches analytical thinking and problem solving skills, and it can also be great fun.

I hope that this article encourages you the reader to raise your level of computer literacy!

Home Computers and Line Numbered BASIC Interpreters

If you're like me, you started using computers back in the early days when a computer was something you could hook up to your television set.  Turn it on and immediately it would greet you with something like:

Super Duper BASIC v2.02
28467 bytes free
Ready
_

This was the most typical way a computer would start up.  You are then in BASIC, ready to explore programming more or less instantly.  There was nothing to download or install.  There was no antivirus software to harass you before you could proceed, and you did not need to boot your computer from a hard disk, log in, and then use a menu system to launch your programming language.

Your computer came with a book (yes, really) that started you on your programming journey in friendly terms, and happy looking cartoons.

In a few minutes you could have a simple example program from the book typed in and then typed RUN to see it in action.  A couple of hours into the book and you were a budding programmer.

There was no need to learn large volumes of functions just to put anything on the screen.  Was it primitive?  You bet.  The good thing about it was that mastery was attainable without going to school.

With computers today?  Forget all that.  I guess you could say that only the most determined people will learn to program now because they have to go exploring into the expanses of the Internet to figure out how to start.

Home computers.  Yup, we called them that before the term personal computer became popular.

The built in BASIC language in these machines is like clay in your hands.

• Turn on the computer and start coding in seconds.
• Execute code without a program.  Just type some code by itself and press Enter.
• Add code to your program one line at a time and just type RUN to try it.
• Stop and restart a running program.  Change it and resume running.
• Type a program in from one of many popular magazines.  Learn to program by changing the program to make it your own.  Copying and pasting code from the Internet is just not the same.

People like to say unkind things about that era and all the messy looking code that BASIC encouraged.  I say that interpreted BASIC was a natural fit for that time.  It probably would have been hard to do it any other way.

I think that there are lessons to be learned from all this.  The kinds of computer literacy that we have today is only enough to use the computer to consume.  We only think that we know how to use the computer, but we really only know enough to run apps.

How do we make the real power of computers accessible again?  How can we restore the immediacy and interactivity of a BASIC interpreter to the end user?

You know what?  You can go on ebay and just buy one of these computers.  Prepare to be charmed.  :-)