Back to basics on computers

FEWER young people being interested in computers and technology for their careers. Some believe it was the dot-com bubble bursting that stopped them making the choice.

I believe the problem is that computers are too easy to use and that in school we are teaching students to be users of the technology, and not to take control of it.

In the mid-’80s, when I started using computers, they were quite basic and so what could be done with them by default was limited.

In our classes we learned proper computers. We learned to program, to make computers do what we wanted them to do and not just learn to create beautiful Word documents or exciting presentations with interesting animations and sounds.

I believe we need to bring computers, and not office skills, back into computer studies in schools.

How do I install Windows, configure video drivers, install printers? How do I create a website? How do I write a game? Make it interesting. Our school had a policy that you could only play games you wrote yourself. So, if you wanted to play games during school time you had to learn how to write them. What kid doesn’t want to play games in school? So, I wrote a simple game and played it.

It worked, but wasn’t much fun, so I learned more and more to keep making it better. Eventually it was quite enjoyable in a 1980s kind of way. Creating graphics, sounds, simple animation. All so that I could play games in school.

I am now a web developer, still programming and still learning. I started by writing little games and so computers remain interesting to me. I enjoy working with them rather than being frustrated by them. We need to bring computers back into computer science in schools. If not, then change the subject to secretarial course.

Albert Hickey

60 Maryborough Court

Maryborough Hill

Cork