Is Learning to Code More Popular Than Learning a Foreign Language?

这年头，学写代码比学外语更流行？

There was a time when people used to go to night classes or buy DIY guides to learn foreign languages in their spare time. But the New York Times is to have us believe that French and Spanish are out of the window, to be replaced by Python and Java.

曾几何时，人们都涌进夜校或是购买自学教材，利用空闲时间学习外语。但《纽约时报》的报道却让我们相信，曾经很多人痴迷的法语和西班牙语已经不再受重视，现在好学人士的已经变成了计算机编程语言Python 和Java。

It's an interesting concept. There's certainly no denying the fact that as a nation we're becoming more tech savvy—you only need to look around a coffee shop to tell you that—and with that is bound to come an increased shift to learning how to make devices work better. From the New York Times:

这是一个非常有趣的观点。无可否认，在美国这样的科技大国，越来越多的人变成科技通，只要环顾咖啡店四周你就会发现我所言非虚。越来越多的人使用电子设备，人们也必然要学习更多的程序知识让自己的设备更好用。以下内容摘自《纽约时报》：

"Parlez-vous Python? What about Rails or JavaScript? Foreign languages tend to wax and wane in popularity, but the language du jour is computer code.

你会Python代码吗？还有Rails 源代码和 JavaScript代码？外语学习的人气似乎有所减弱，现在正当红的语言是计算机代码。

"The market for night classes and online instruction in programming and Web construction, as well as for iPhone apps that teach, is booming. Those jumping on board say they are preparing for a future in which the Internet is the foundation for entertainment, education and nearly everything else. Knowing how the digital pieces fit together, they say, will be crucial to ensuring that they are not left in the dark ages."

学习编程和网站建设的夜校和在线培训市场蓬勃发展，当然还有苹果应用程序开发。学员们都表示打好基础才能迎接这样的程序未来：互联网将成为娱乐、教育和其他一切领域的基础。他们表示，了解数位是如何组装在一起的很关键，这样才能确保他们不会被的科技抛弃在黑暗时代。

But is it really crucial to be able to code? Many content producers use technology virtually every waking hour of their life, and they don't know a variable from an identifier, or an integer from a string. Personally, I'm conflicted: I have a technical background, but for most people I just don't see how being able to compile code is going to prove useful.

不过会写代码真的这么重要么？许多内容生产者几乎每时每刻都在使用科技，但他们分不清变量和标识符，不了解整数和字符串之间的差别。就我个人而言我觉得很矛盾：我有一定的技术背景 ，但对于大部分人们来说，我并没有看出会编写代码多有用。

So, I'm going to hand this over to you guys: Is learning to code more popular than learning a foreign language? And, if it is, should it be?

我要把这个问题抛给大家啦：学写代码真的比学外语流行？如果确实如此，那到底是好是坏？