Programming a new trend in primary school

Primary and secondary school students attend a coding competition in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, April 9, 2015. [Photo/VCG]

In addition to Chinese, math and English, primary school students in East China's Shandong province are now required to master a new skill – programming.

Python, a popular programming language, has recently been added to the textbook of information technology for sixth-grade students in Shandong province.

The Python class is mainly opened to cultivate children's interest in the programming language, said Chen Fei, an associate researcher at Shenzhen University.

"This Python class can show the magical power of computers and arouse children's enthusiasm," said Chen.

This isn't the only example of the growing importance attached to the coding language in China.

According to a notice issued by the exam administration body of the Education Ministry, Python will become a test subject in the National Computer Rank Examination starting March 2018.

Python, first released in 1991, is a general-purpose programming language. It has a design philosophy that emphasizes code readability, and a syntax that allows programmers to express concepts in fewer lines of code than languages such as C++ or Java, contributing to its growing popularity over the past few years.

In June 2017, Python became the most visited tag within high-income nations on Stack Overflow, an online community for developers. And it is expected to become the most popular programming language in the next few years.

In the US, programming education starts at an early age, with programming language textbooks for toddlers available on the online shopping website Amazon.