a computer programmer is? Yeahh, umm, no. Umm, what what? I'm not really sure how to

explain it. Computer programming is pretty simple. It's a set of instructions, like a

recipe. You have to follow them step by step to get the end result you want. Computer science

is a way to impact the world. It can be music videos, it can be games, detect whether or

not someone is related to someone else. Find you know, people's friends. You can do all

sorts of other crazy things that actually save lives. You do have to have a drive I

think. It is to me like a paintbrush. I think great programming is not all that dissimilar

from great art. When I finally learned a little bit of programming, that blank wall resolved

into a bunch of doors and you open them and of course then you find behind them is another

hallway filled with a bunch of doors. Programming is fun and easy. You can do anything your

mind wants to do. Finally you start to open enough doors the light comes in. To me a finished

program is like a structure filled with light. All the corners are illuminated. The number

of people that you can touch and interact with is something the world has never seen

before. Our first lesson in this series is all about what computer science is, what a

computer scientist does and how you can be more responsible in your use of technology.

It's a very important lesson but it is a little text-heavy. At the end, you get to make your

very own customized encoding using your initials. It's a fun activity and it's very empowering

because binary is one of those things that feels very technical but once you understand

it, it's like you speak a secret language.