Programming Is a Skill Best Acquired by Practice and Example Rather Than From Books

Alan Turing? Apocryphal?

Dear Quote Investigator: The best way to learn computer programming is by seeing examples, writing code, and executing programs. Trying to learn solely through a book is quite difficult. This viewpoint has been credited to the pioneering computer scientist Alan Turing.

I am uncertain about this attribution because Turing died in 1954, and early computer languages like Fortran and Cobol were created after this date. Would you please explore this topic?

Quote Investigator: When Alan Turing was at the University of Manchester in England in 1951 he wrote the first manual for programmers which he titled “Programmers’ Handbook for Manchester Electronic Computer Mark II”. Digital scans of all the pages of the manual are available at the website of “The Turing Archive for the History of Computing”.^[1]Website: The Turing Archive for the History of Computing, Director of the Turing Archive: Jack Copeland (Professor in Arts at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand), Website description: Scans of … Continue reading

A section titled “Programming Principles” begins with the following statements. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:^[2]Website: The Turing Archive for the History of Computing, Document title: Programmers’ Handbook for Manchester Electronic Computer Mark II, Document author: Alan Turing, Date on document: undated, … Continue reading

Programming is a skill best acquired by practice and example rather than from books. The remarks given here are therefore quite inadequate.

If it is desired to give a definition of programming, one might say that it is an activity by which a digital computer is made to do a man’s will, by expressing this will suitably on punched tapes, or whatever other input medium is accepted by the machine. This is normally achieved by working up from relatively simple requirements to more complex ones.

In 1951 the computer at the University of Manchester was programmed directly using machine code. High-level programming languages like Fortran and Cobol were created later in the 1950s.

Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.

In 1991 a piece published in “The Daily Telegraph” of London asserted that the ability to teach was best learned through practice:^[3] 1991 July 11, The Daily Telegraph, Let’s ditch the dogma, Quote Page 12, Column 7, London, England. (Newspapers_com)

I have consistently argued that teaching is a practical skill best acquired in practice, and that good teachers do not need courses in educational theory.

In 2001 “Collected Works of A. M. Turing: Mathematical Logic” appeared, and an excerpt from the manual by Turing was reprinted. Thus, the statement achieved further circulation:^[4]2001, Collected Works of A. M. Turing: Mathematical Logic, Edited by R.O. Gandy and C.E.M. Yates, Excerpt from: Programmer’s Handbook for the Manchester Electronic Computer Mark II, Quote Page 251, … Continue reading

Programming is a skill best acquired by practice and example rather than from books. The remarks given here are therefore quite inadequate.

In 2001 a different skill was mentioned in “The New York Times”:^[5] 2001 October 30, New York Times, Reducing the Risks for Teenage Drivers Jane E. Brody, Quote Page F7, New York. (ProQuest)

Dr. Shope and the co-authors pointed out that “driving is a complex psychomotor skill best acquired with considerable practice initially conducted in low-risk situations as essential experience is gained.”

In conclusion, Alan M. Turing deserves credit for the remark he made about programming in 1951.

(Great thanks to Alexandra Heggie whose inquiry led QI to formulate this question and perform this exploration.)