Should all college students be required to take a programming class?  I say yes.  Most universities already require they take "college composition," based on the assumption that the ability to write coherently and cogently is a necessity.  How much longer until we see programming knowledge as a similar sort of required literacy?

I should note here that I'm not saying everyone needs to learn Perl or Python.  But I'd say everyone -- yes everyone -- needs to understand how the Web works, how to build a website, how to view "page source" and understand HTML and CSS.  And yes, I'd add JavaScript to that list too.

I've got a post over on Inside Higher Ed with some initial thoughts, but I want to push this idea even further in subsequent posts.  How would this change how we think about "writing across the curriculum"?  And how would it change the way in which we funnel students into (or away from) CS? 

Photo credits:  Flickr user Ginnerobot