"@crayz: There's exactly zero people on earth who could bang out some beautiful CoffeeScript/Lua/Ruby and actually walk you through how each line of code is turned by the computer into a physical reality of flowing electrons

I beg to disagree: this is my job and there are hundreds of people in my field (computer systems architecture) which can do so as well.

I beg to disagree with your disagreement. I can tell you in abstract terms (combustion, heat engines, Carnot cycles) how a car engine works, but that doesn't mean I could repair one. This is a personal limitation: there are undoubtedly mechanics that know every part of particular engines, who could strip and reassemble them with their eyes closed.

A computer, on the other hand, is an engine with a billion parts, a machine of such staggering complexity that it can only be approached through layers of abstractions, layers which individuals specialize their careers understanding. I don't doubt that you (or I, or any undergrad who has taken a systems course) could outline these layers, but to to even understand the transformation of code to electrons on this abstract level would require you to be a serious expert in javascript interpreters, operating systems, and processors. To concretely understand it, to literally map a line of code to electron flows on the transistor level, is beyond human comprehension.
posted by Pyry at 6:08 AM on September 12"

"Code Hero is a game that teaches you how to make games with a code gun that copies, edits and shoots Javascript in Unity3D."

Learning a bit of javascript on The badges are superfluous, but the interactive learning part is nicely done! /via @waxy