To code or not to code, that is the question

Abstract

There have been many periods in the unfolding of human history when we have asserted that it was possible to catalog all that was known or that could be known. Ignoring the pragmatic reality of trying to catalog an ever-expanding corpus, one must understand that such a task is further complicated by cultural and situational bias: what is important to know at one place and time is not necessary important in another. So it is with our present day; this raises the question, what must a functioning member of society know about computing? The Web extra at http://youtu.be/PjR6GqobTBo is an audio podcast of author Grady Booch reading his On Computing column, in which he discusses how much a functioning member of society today should know about computing.