“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.”
(Donahue A “Hello world” apart (why humanities students should not learn to program))
Although knowing how to code, or at least understanding the basics of coding, can be a very useful tool in humanities research, the practice should not be a requirement in humanities fields. While I completely disagree with the idea that all humanities students should learn to code, it could surely be an asset to research in this field when computers are increasingly used as tools within the DH community for research, communication, collaboration, and as a home for humanities projects. Because of the fundamental changes that the digital age has brought to the field of humanities, it has now become more necessary that we are careful not to exclude those who do not know how to code from conversations in this discipline. Having an understanding of how coding works can better prepare you to use it to your advantage and for yourself in whatever research you may do. Not to mention that coding itself can be an avenue for the creation of digital humanities projects given that a lot of the same questions and issues are discussed in both humanities and computer science fields.
The only coding experience I have before the little bit we’ve done in HTML, JavaScript, and CSS in class, is in CS classes here at Carleton where I’ve worked with Python, Java, and Latex. However, I’ve been interested in programming since I was young and found Code Ninja books at the elementary school book fair. Given that I have somewhat of a foundation in this sort of thinking, the only thing that confused me when we were practicing with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript was that I knew nothing of the syntax or meanings of symbols used. Additionally, I find it inconvenient that they all used different syntax, but I did enjoy having a very low-stakes introduction to these languages. Here’s a snippet of what I learned!
We used jsbin to practice coding with HTML 1 thought on “Lab 2 – Web Development Fundamentals”
Leave a Reply
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Hello Simon! I agree with your sentiments about how coding can be useful in the humanities. While I agree that a specific course that teaches students how to code should not be required, I think that having a general class that allows students to explore the different sides of computer science or improve their algorithmic thinking can be quite beneficial. Anyways, I also enjoyed the low-stakes tutorials for HTML and CSS, and, funnily enough, I found myself learning more from these tutorials than when I tried to take an online web development course back in high school.