Before the Internet of Things (IoT) became the dominant market for necessities, computer code was already meeting all of our requirements. Driving to work, vacuuming, taking an elevator, doing laundry, and many other activities you rely on daily would not exist without the invention of computer programming. There are so many things that you use in daily life that use code. For example, smart fridges, smart watches, digital clocks, TVs, computers, laptops, etc. In this article, we will go in depth about the impact of coding in our world. 

Impact of Coding on Our World

Here’s the impact of coding in our world: 

  1. Mobile Devices
  • These days, nearly everyone has a smartphone and access throughout the Internet. Most internet activity consists of using various mobile applications and websites. While social media apps may be the most popular apps people use on their smartphones, code is always at the core, regardless of the category.
  • Over the past few years, the number of websites online has grown to around 1.14 billion that use a variety of programming languages.1 
  • These days, people have everything they need at their fingertips thanks to the growth of websites and mobile applications. 
  • Do you want to book a room, order a meal, chat with friends, search for employment, schedule a cab, and watch your favorite series and movies? The advent of computer programming has made the impossible possible.
  1. Operating Systems
  • Operating systems, which run on virtually every computer in use today, have been widely lauded for their capabilities and rely heavily on programming languages as their basis. 
  • The operating system is the backbone of any computing device. To put it simply, it controls everything from the computer’s software and hardware to its memory and operations. And it lets you talk to the computer even if you don’t understand its language. A computer is worthless if it doesn’t have an operating system.2
  1. Digital Assistants
  • Today’s digital assistants simplify people’s lives by letting them find anything with a few simple voice commands. 
  • Artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, the IoT, and cloud computing are just some of the cutting-edge technology used in some of the most popular digital assistant apps we all use. 
  • The unique programs developed in various programming languages are the driving force behind these technologies. 
  • You may use voice commands to search for information, send emails, respond to text messages, set alarms, manage your smart home, reserve a seat on a bus, train, or airplane, and receive directions to any location, among many other things.
  1. Space Travel
  • Since its inception, space exploration has relied heavily on computer programming. NASA is now using programming languages like Python to learn more about our planet and the universe.3 
  • Python is at the heart of NASA’s creative solutions. To ensure the safety of astronauts on the moon and on Earth, programmers at space agencies employ code to construct applications that can detect certain compounds in specific locations, estimate radiation levels, and collect petabytes of data.4

Learning to Code

  • Simply explained, coding is the process of converting a set of instructions or a procedure into a language that computers can understand. This paves the way for countless new possibilities, including the development of apps and software, the creation of websites, video games, apps, and much more. Coding is a form of communication; it consists of special symbols and alphabets that machines can understand. 
  • Learning to code is like learning any other language; it trains our brains to think and reason systematically.5 With software getting more complex with time, knowing how to use it is likely to be necessary for everybody living today or in the future.
  • The number of schools recognizing the need to teach students how to code is also rising.6 Soon, technological progress will build a future in which humans and machines live in peace and harmony, and coding will serve as the primary means of communication. 
  • A vast amount of information may be imparted to young children due to their open minds. Keeping in mind that children’s ability to learn new skills declines with age,7 schools have started teaching coding to students of all ages as part of the curriculum.6

Undoubtedly, today’s programming languages affect nearly every facet of modern life. In many ways, it has improved our lives and the world around us. Everyday life is being aided by it, but commercial operations are being greatly enhanced, and even space organizations are receiving assistance.

If you found this interesting and want to read more similar articles, visit BYJU’s Future School Blog. 

References

  1. Huss, N. (2022, April 6). How Many Websites Are There in the World? (2022) – Siteefy. Siteefy. Retrieved November 15, 2022, from https://siteefy.com/how-many-websites-are-there/
  2. Cockerham. (2022). The Importance of an Operating System | Techwalla. Techwalla. Retrieved November 15, 2022, from https://www.techwalla.com/articles/the-importance-of-an-operating-system
  3. Steig. (2022, July 14). How To Download The James Webb Space Telescope Data & Analyze It With Python. Codecademy News. Retrieved November 15, 2022, from https://www.codecademy.com/resources/blog/nasa-james-webb-space-telescope-python-data/
  4. Foong. (2020). NASA, Google, FB, Netflix – What Do They Have In Common? – LEAD. LEAD. Retrieved November 15, 2022, from https://thelead.io/data-science/companies-that-uses-python/
  5. Scherer, R., Siddiq, F., & Sánchez-Scherer, B. (2021, September 9). Some Evidence on the Cognitive Benefits of Learning to Code. PubMed Central (PMC). Retrieved November 11, 2022, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8458729/ 
  6. Singer. (2017, June 27). How Silicon Valley Pushed Coding Into American Classrooms. How Silicon Valley Pushed Coding Into American Classrooms | Careers | Communications of the ACM. Retrieved November 15, 2022, from https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/27/technology/education-partovi-computer-science-coding-apple-microsoft.html
  7. Janacsek, K., Fiser, J., & Nemeth, D. (2012). The best time to acquire new skills: age-related differences in implicit sequence learning across the human lifespan. Developmental Science, 15(4), 496–505. Retrieved November 16, 2022, from https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7687.2012.01150.x

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