Steve Jobs once said,
"Everybody in this country should learn how to program a computer... because it teaches you how to think."
Forget the country, follow the rest.
Computer programming is an enormously flexible tool that you can use to do amazing things that are otherwise either manual and laborious oror are just impossible. If you're using a smartphone, a chat app or if you're unlocking your car with the push of a button, then you must know that all these things are using some kind of programming. You're already immersed in the programs of different types. In fact, software is running your life. What if you learn and start running these programs according to your will?
For example, you can write a program that can automatically respond to every new text message on your phone. To a message like "Hi" or "Hey," the program can read through the message to detect some pre-defined keywords like "Hi" and "Hey," and send an automatic response, which could be anything like, "Hi! What's up?" without you needing to see that message. You can even program it for specific people in your contact list. It can be made as exciting as you can ever imagine it to be.
By learning how to program doesn't mean that you have a responsibility of creating the next Facebook or the next Dropbox. No!
Rewind a little and see what made these big websites like Facebook, Dropbox, YouTube and others come into being. There was a need - someone suffered from the lack of something. And then, he dared to address that need because he could. He knew there was a way to solve that problem and make things easier for himself and probably others. You don't have to learn computer programming to solve the problems of the world, but you can very well solve yours. Here are the reasons why you should learn to code today:
Coding develops structured and creative thinking
When programmers are given a problem to solve, they don't just start to code right away. Problems are not solved that way. When you see a problem, you need to break it down into workable pieces and then get on it. Do non-programmers ever approach to a problem like this? Rare! When you start learning to program, you develop the habit of working your way out in a very structured format. You gradually program your brain to break every problem down to bits and understand better. You start thinking logically, and this gives rise to more creative solutions you've ever given.
Programming makes things easier for you
A simple computer program is capable of turning things around as you want. Something that works on pushing buttons can be programmed to do so on a tap on your smartphone or when you double clap. Yeah, you can switch on/off your electrical appliances using your smartphones.
Something that requires your input repeatedly, just like the online forms where you have to fill your First Name, Second Name, Email and other information, can be programmed to have your opinion once and it could literally fill out your forms with a single click. Yes, it’s possible. Something as simple as working on Excel Sheets can make you go crazy because of the manual labor it requires. You can write little programs to help yourself.