[chilukrn]

I think that's because it is taught by people who are not well trained in CS themselves for the most part, and a not so well defined curriculum. "You can build a cool website/mobile app" can help only so much in inculcating an interest in computing.

I wish there's something more like this book (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structure_and_Interpretation_o...) for schools which show that computation is a good extension of mathematical thinking (when used in the sciences), and beyond that, it can used to build "cool stuff" like mobile apps or software to control robotic arms.

In case my last sentence was not clear, I'm trying to allude to different roles of software. One can use it as a useful, very fast but dumb calculator doing computations to predict a molecular structure or a spreadsheet doing a bunch of stuff for an accountant/finance guy. Many times, we tend to think of it as useful to build cool tech apps/websites and force feed them Java/C++ or some such things which they're not ready for yet[1]. We should inculcate "computational thinking" before we teach them Javascript websites/java apps.

[1]As per my experience with some fancy schools teaching 5th/6th grade kids how to build their first apps

[namibj]

I'm currently trying to teach a friend structured software design via the https://deinprogramm.de [0] approach based on Racket/Scheme, resisting a friends opinion on it being not useful enough in industry and all that. The thing is, that while I'll have an easy time finding her a job with no real experience if she can demonstrate a structured approach I can vouch for, the opposite is far harder. If she can write python, fine. But no one will pay her/teach her without a long trade school contract if she can't demonstrate that she can be left alone with a task that takes 50~150 hours. Or at least that she only lacks a bit experience and needs some guidance to end up with a concise overall design.

Considering that the most senior engineers spend far more time on high-level design than on coding, it seems the better carreer path.

The book you search might be the one linked below, btw.

[0] German brother of https://programbydesign.org/