Education

ML57: Simon Peyton Jones on The Ideas That Drive Computers, Building Programming Languages, and Teaching Computer Science in Schools

Discover the core computing principles we should all understand, the mechanics of building a programming language and how computer science is being taught in schools.

Nasos Papadopoulos

May 24, 2017 • 1 min read

Simon Peyton Jones is a computer scientist who currently works as a researcher for Microsoft and has built his own programming language, Haskell. He is also chair of Computing at School, which was central to the 2014 reform of the English curriculum that made computer science a foundational subject.

As our lives become increasingly influenced by computers, it's surprising how few of us know anything about how these devices work. We don't all need to become programmers, but understanding the core principles that are behind our favourite websites and apps is important when we spend so much time on them.

Simon is uniquely positioned to offer insight into the field, given his many years of research and application and his experience teaching computer science as a Professor at University level.

In this conversation we discuss a range of topics including:

- The core computer science principles that everyone should understand
- The importance of focusing on ideas, not devices, in computer science education
- Simon’s view on whether there’s a tradeoff between technology and humanity

So whether you want to become a programmer, understand the basic principles behind computers or hear an industry insider's views on to how to manage the use of technology in schools, this episode will give you all that and much more.