Coding can be taught line by line but not everyone is comfortable with purely text and logic based explanations of coding. The current status quo is to teach showing lines of code with inputs and outputs however a lot of visual learners are not going to easily grasp that. What if there was a way to communicate the code concepts with images? This talk will show how using geometry and modeling can acclimate novices to coding concepts using visual-spatial examples reinforced by coding concepts applicable anywhere.

1. The Importance of Visuals in
Teaching Code and Reducing Bias
TADEH HAKOPIAN

2. CODING IS EVERYWHERE!
• Coding is everywhere!
• We need to use it on our projects too!
• So we want to teach our staff the value of
programming
• But we want to do it in a way to make them
feel comfortable learning new things
• This is a story of how that happened for my
company

3. • Tadeh Hakopian
• (Todd-A) (Ha-co-pea-on)
• Design Technologist and Developer with
HMC Architects in Los Angeles, California
• Background in Architecture
• Experience in Architecture, Engineering and
Construction disciplines with BIM and VDC
workflows
• Course Author and Speaker for BIM, Dynamo
and Coding content
ABOUT ME

4. BUILDING ARCHITECTURE!
https://www.evolvelab.io/post/2018/04/26/have‐you‐seen‐revit‐2019‐part‐1

5. LEARNING TO CODE FOR CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS
http://townhauz.bldgsci.net/node/11 https://dynamobim.org/covid‐office‐occupancy‐multi‐objective‐optimization/

6. WHAT WE WANT TO DO
• Teach our designers how to code
• Basic level coding and scripting - no
production level capability
• Open up a lot of options and efficiencies
with existing software stacks so they can
deliver their best projects

7. BUSINESS CASE – NEED TO TRAIN USERS
• We want more developers but don’t have the
capacity (budget) for them
• We need everyone to learn some basic level code
for future growth
• But we can’t teach our staff like traditional coders
• This is where removing the bias of teaching coders
all the same becomes critical

8. INTIMIDATION FACTOR

9. LEARNING DIGITAL TOOLS ‐ NOT ENOUGH TO GO ON
• Part 1 draw guidelines
• Part 2 finish the drawing
What learning to code feels like for a newbie:

10. REMOVE BARRIERS

11. Make the first step non-intimidating
REMOVE BARRIERS

12. REMOVE BARRIERS
Emphasize visuals and graphics for
creatives who are comfortable in
that format

13. REMOVE BARRIERS
The more methods of training
people the better – find your fit

14. TEXT EDITOR – NOT A GOOD START FOR NEW LEARNERS

15. VISUAL LEARNING – PYTHAGOREAN THEOREM

16. VISUAL SCRIPTING ‐ PYFLOW

17. THE BREAKTHROUGH

18. 3D MODELING TO VISUAL SCRIPTING

19. 3D MODELING TO VISUAL SCRIPTING

20. 3D MODELING TO VISUAL SCRIPTING

21. VISUAL SCRIPTING TO CODING

22. VISUAL SCRIPTING TO CODING

23. CODING TO GENERATIVE DESIGN
https://www.generativedesign.org/

24. GENERATIVE DESIGN
https://www.generativedesign.org/

25. GENERATIVE DESIGN
https://www.keanw.com/2019/11/project‐rediscover‐version‐2‐of‐the‐mars‐graph‐is‐now‐available‐for‐download.html

26. RESULTS
hmcarchitects.com

27. RESULTS

28. REMOVE BARRIERS

29. Make the first step non-intimidating
REMOVE BARRIERS

30. REMOVE BARRIERS
Emphasize visuals and graphics for
creatives who are comfortable in
that format

31. REMOVE BARRIERS
The more methods of training
people the better – find your fit

32. GIVE A HOOT!

33. SCRATCH - https://en.scratch-wiki.info/wiki/Scratch_Source_Code
PYTHON TUTOR - http://www.pythontutor.com/
PYFLOW – https://pyflow.readthedocs.io/en/latest/index.html
DYNAMO - https://dynamobim.org/
PYWEEK -https://pyweek.org/
PYGAME - https://www.pygame.org/news
RESOURCES

34. Thanks everyone!
Tadeh Hakopian Contact Information:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/tadeh_hakopian
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thakopian/
Github: https://github.com/thakopian
Email: thakopian@gmail.com