Code.org Uses Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Jack Dorsey and Many More to Encourage More Coding by Kids

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Code.org has a great new video out about creativity, collaboration, and education, specifically about coding — what it is, how it works, and why it’s important and exciting.

[View:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dU1xS07N-FA&feature=player_embedded]

The video’s language and feel is “adult,” yet simple enough for, say, middle schoolers to understand and possibly get excited about. Appearances by Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook), Jack Dorsey (Twitter, Square), and quite a large number of other founders and engineers are eye-catching and inspiring as well.

Throw in some intelligent remarks by NBA star Chris Bosh and music artist will.i.am and you have a winning video. Turns out Chris Bosh was (is) a real nerd. Pretty cool. And according to will.i.am, who is currently learning how to code himself, “Great coders are today’s rock stars. That’s it.” he says with a smirk and a shrug.

Posted yesterday, the video already has 124,000+ views. It concludes with “To start learning a superpower, go to code.org” — catchy.

Code.org is a non-profit foundation founded by Hadi Partovi dedicated to growing computer programming education whose goals include:

  • Spreading the word that there is a worldwide shortage of computer programmers, and that it’s much easier to learn to program than you think.
  • Building an authoritative database of all programming schools, whether they are online courses, brick+mortar schools or summer camps.

Their vision is that “every student in every school has the opportunity to learn how to code. We believe computer science and computer programming should be part of the core curriculum in education, alongside other science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses, such as biology, physics, chemistry and algebra.” Code.org’s board of directors include Microsoft’s general counsel Brad Smith, investor and co-founder of Netscape Marc Andreesen, and Drew Houston the CEO of Dropbox.