I believe that having the ability to code would benefit any student studying the digital humanities, however, I do not believe that every digital humanities student must know how to code. Evan Donohue pushes this idea when he stated in his blog post that, “While programming will indeed usefully equip one better to understand computer scientific discourses, it should NOT be taken as the necessary precondition to engaging with the computer sciences.” While coding is an important aspect of the digital humanities, I believe it is unnecessary to understand to intricacies of coding for achieving a comprehensive understanding of the digital humanities. My prior experience with coding consists of Intro to Computer Science and AP computer science classes that I took in high school. In these classes, I learned the basics of Java. I completed the HTML beginner and intermediate tutorials and I found them to be relatively easy compared to Java, I found Java to be much more difficult to learn initially.
<!DOCTYPE HTML>
<html>
<head>
<title>My first web page</title>
</head>
<body>
This is my first web page
</body>
</html>
2 thoughts on “Lab 2 – Web Development Fundamentals (Marcus Merkelbach)”
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I agree with the perspective that coding can be a valuable skill for students in digital humanities, that it shouldn’t be considered a mandatory prerequisite. While coding enhances one’s understanding of computer science, it’s not the sole path to engaging with digital humanities. My own experience with coding (HTML Dog) has taught me that these skills do vary in complexity, and while they can be helpful, they’re not the only means to a comprehensive grasp of the digital humanities.
Marcus, I absolutely agree with what you’re saying. In the area of digital humanities, having coding abilities certainly is useful, but it’s important to understand that they are not a strict must for success. A broad skill set spanning several areas can equally make significant contributions in this field. I also agree that HTML is significantly simpler than Java.