[TheOtherHobbes]

This is the "I like tinkering with cars therefore everyone should be a mechanic" argument.

There's no justification for it. Maybe 20% of the population - at best - is even capable of that kind of programming. [1] Most people simply don't do symbolic abstraction at that level, and forcing them to try would create resentment, not literacy.

And "conlangs" are indeed different to "natlangs." There's definitely a case to be made for teaching everyone at least one extra language. But the kind of abstract thinking required for conlangs is adequately covered by basic STEM.

There might be a case for some very basic experience with programming in schools. But expecting the entire population to be able to do it at a professional level makes no more sense than expecting the entire population to have the same skills as qualified doctors, lawyers, architects, or pilots.

[1] There are fewer than 30 million developers globally, out of a population of nearly 8 billion.

[dfxm12]

This is the "I like tinkering with cars therefore everyone should be a mechanic" argument.

Everyone shouldn't feel intimidated by trying to change their headlights though. You don't need to program at a professional level or have professional tools to "program" an excel spreadsheet to handle your monthly budget or to write a shell script that searches your photos folder for new files to copy to a back up drive periodically.

If one wants to pay for convenience, OK, but I do think there's real value in equipping the average person with more than some very basic experience with programming.

[Kednicma]

Yes, and to expand upon the magic word you used: Excel claimed 30mil users in the mid-1990s [0] and various estimates I've read put the current usage at somewhere between 500-600mil users. I think Excel is the most popular domain-specific programming language on the planet.

[0] https://news.microsoft.com/1996/05/20/more-than-30-million-u...

[qserasera]

> There might be a case for some very basic experience with programming in schools.

The high school (mid 2010s) I went to somewhat recently had ZERO programming classes and about 4 AP classes. Middle schools had basic typing classes. I am unaware if this is changing at a rapid pace but I would hope we could improve computer literacy by making kids take a few basics classes about things they use every day.