Apple joins Hour of Code project by using stores as classrooms to teach coding

This year, Apple is supporting the annual Hour of Code program by using all of its 468 stores all over the world as temporary classrooms teaching coding.

Craig Federighi, Apple's senior vice president of software engineering, hopes to create a spark from this project among millions of children. According to Mashable, it is the third year that Apple has joined this event. This year, the giant tech company hopes to teach 10,000 students by educating them in one of their stores during this one-day event on December 10.

Federighi wants people to understand that coding isn't just a solitary endeavor. He wants to make coding cool and more attractive to people, especially for children.

"These devices are so much a part of our lives, we have a computer in some form wherever we go, that the ability to create in that medium is as fundamental as the ability to write," said Federighi in a report by the Business Insider. "It's an incredibly creative medium, not unlike music, and there's a tremendous cross-over between people who programme and musicians."

Computer Science Education Week's Hour of Code program is sponsored by a non-profit organization called Code.org. It is an international program that teaches people the basics of computer coding. It is done in 180 countries, supported by technology companies and governments. Last year, this event has reached more than 100 million people, according to BBC News.

It is supported by influential world leaders such as US President Barack Obama and UK Prime Minister. It is also backed by prominent names in the private sector, such as Bill Gates and Sir Richard Branson. Some of the biggest tech firms supporting it are Facebook, Microsoft, Amazon, and Google. Even the Minecraft computer game is involved with the event by gamifying the tutorials.

Not so long ago, computer programming may be a daunting task, but Federighi said this is not the case for this generation. Since tech is such a part of people's daily lives today, kids realize that software affects almost every aspect of their lives, he said. This is why learning how to code is going to part of literacy in the future.