Although I'm not necessarily the target audience for code.org, I decided to check it out. Couldn't sleep as well, but that's periphery to this.
I've heard good things about the 'Code.org' movement (a lot of tech celebrities endorsing it) but I never really bothered about it, as I felt that learning how to code via moving blocks around (e.g. Scratch) was a bit too infantile for my taste.
However, after seeing a friend personally endorse ('The Hour of Code' day, apparently, is tomorrow) the programme, I decided to try it out as well.
Here are my thoughts, after completing the challenge (finished it in 20-25 minutes, but that's to be expected, as I am significantly older than the targeted demographics), illustrated in a series of images and my thoughts in the form of the image caption.
A rather infantile experience. Dragging blocks around, making things move (Angry Birds, which I'm not a fan of). Tempted to quit at this stage, and resign to my code illiteracy for the rest of my life.
I suspect that I'm not the first person to raise this objection, so this illustration ('Even top universities teach block-based coding.') strengthened my resolve in continuing this challenge.
Starting to get slightly challenging. Have to say I'm starting to enjoy it (the complexity, the failing, and the feeling of accomplishment after you succeed in the task. I suppose coding, at a higher level, is an absolute thrill.).
Really enjoying it now. Getting a lot more complicated.
Done. Completed the 'Hour of Code' before the actual day.
Although the 'Hour of Code' exercise was rudimentary, the resources ('further resources') on the page seems really helpful.