The website code.org just released a video promoting the idea of teaching coding in school. It's a nice cause, and it also features an all-star cast of characters, including Bill Gates
Jack Dorsey
and Mark Zuckerberg. Makes sense! Zuckerberg and Gates are two of the richest and best-known tech guys in the world, and Dorsey created Twitter.
But then, uh, the cast of characters gets a little more varied. Like will.i.am. You know, the guy in the Black Eyed Peas. He compares rock stars to coders. Or coders to rock stars. I don't know.
And, best of all: hey Chris!
Christopher Bosh's contributions are across-the-board fantastic. First, he says that, sure, coding is intimdating, but so is EVERYTHING ELSE.
Seriously: here's the transcript. "Coding is something that can be learned. I know it can be intimidating. A lot of things are intimidating. But, you know, what isn't?"
Things that intimidate Chris Bosh:
Squirrels
Nate Robinson
Dehydrated ice cream
The Magna Carta
Competitive sports
Ghosts
Aliens
Spiders
Ghost alien spiders
Ornithology
Hair
A sock
Later in the video, Bosh remembers when kids laughed at him.
"When I was in school I was in this after-school group called the Whiz Kids. And when people found out, they laughed at me, and you know, all these things. And I'm like, man, I don't care. I think it's cool, and I'm learning a lot, and some of my friends have jobs."
OK, first off: when was this? His friends had jobs? Secondly, if his friends were of the age to have jobs, Bosh was of the age to be about 19 feet tall, meaning that kids laughing at him probably didn't mean much. Thirdly: an after-school group called the Whiz Kids? How could he possibly be older than 9 and in a group called the Whiz Kids?
This is the face Chris Bosh will make at you if you laugh at him.
Man — Chris Bosh is the best. Here's the full video, if you want to hear what the actual tech people say.
View this video on YouTube
H/T to Leslie Horn at Gizmodo