San Francisco, CA, February 11, 2014—Technological knowledge is more important today than ever, with even President Obama asking more students to learn to code. According to Code.org, computing occupations are among the highest-paying jobs for new graduates, yet fewer than 3 percent of college students earn a degree in computer science. In 36 states, computer science classes aren't even high school graduation requirements. There's clearly a disconnect here.

Aspiring programmers are often overwhelmed because they think they need to learn complex, text-based languages in order to code. Ultimately, many give up or turn to expensive crash courses, when all they really need is a painless place to start, like this new book from No Starch Press. In Learn to Program with Scratch (No Starch Press, Feb 2014, 288 pp., $34.95, ISBN 9781593275433), readers can learn how to code without getting in over their heads (and without breaking the bank).

Scratch is a language traditionally reserved for teaching kids how to code using visual blocks instead of typed commands. However, this surprisingly powerful programming language can make computer science approachable for anyone. In Learn to Program with Scratch, author Majed Marji highlights the unexpected power of this simple but fun language as readers learn to:

• Harness the power of repeat loops and recursion
• Use if/else statements and logical operators to make decisions
• Store data in variables and lists to use later in their program
• Read, store, and manipulate user input
• Implement key computer science algorithms like linear searches and bubble sorts

Computer programming can be difficult, but Scratch makes learning core concepts easy for everyone. At last, the rest of us have a book to build the foundation for code literacy.