Programming is not intended for the masses.
>>13
What a brilliant idea! It should be illegal to program computers if you do not have a license. In this way, a regulatory authority can ensure that all software meet minimum quality standards.
Even better, we should adopt the medieval guild system. Only licensed professionals who dedicate their life to the craft of programming will be allowed to program. They will then be able to take on apprentices or pass on valuable knowledge to their children. Nothing beats an education environment with a low student to teacher ratio.
To keep the masses away from programming, computer programming books should be confiscated and locked up in a sacred temple where only the high priests and approved programmers will be allowed access to the dangerous material.
The use of computers should be severely restricted. Personal computers will be outlawed. There will only be public coin-operated computers that are owned and maintained by heavily regulated companies. Programming would slowly turn into a religion, with the "programmer class" of individuals gradually rising to the top of the social hierarchy. Lay people would often consult one of their town's few programmers for advice on how to conjure the correct spells to satisfy the spirits inside computers. The devout would make donations to the temple of programmers, in hope that their charitable contributions would be rewarded in the form of well-behaved computer spirits.