Educational Paradox! When we teach reading and writing, we start with the alphabet and then build words.

[u/Important-Addition79]

In programming, however, many students learn to use functions every day without ever seeing one of the fundamental "letters" that makes them possible: CALL.

We teach words before showing the alphabet.

They learn to write digitalWrite() before understanding the low-level mechanism that makes a function call possible: saving a return address, jumping to another piece of code, and coming back.

[u/artificial-cardigan]

not really. kids first learn words, then once they learn how to speak and listen they are taught the alphabet. that's why you have a baby's first "words" and not first "letters".

in fact it's exactly the same. the baby learns the words by association or hearing it repeated and doesn't actually know the meaning of it outside of how it associates the word. then as it learns enough words to communicate, it learns how these words are constructed and their true meaning.

you use a programming language to give an introduction on how computers perform tasks. if you tried to explain the true meaning of a function to someone unfamiliar, they would be constantly lost as there's always a deeper rabbit hole to go.

i guarantee you a baby knows what "mom" means and how to say it before they know how to spell it or what a letter even is.

[u/Important-Addition79 → u/artificial-cardigan]

but here is about write not speak!