Apple Supports 'Hour of Code' Campaign for Students with Free Workshops in U.S. Retail Stores - MacRumors
Skip to Content

Apple Supports 'Hour of Code' Campaign for Students with Free Workshops in U.S. Retail Stores

by

hour_of_code_iconApple today announced that it will be participating in the "Hour of Code" initiative this Wednesday by offering free workshops in its U.S. stores introducing students to computer programming. Apple is setting aside the 5:00-6:00 PM hour at all of its retail stores for its workshops, and reservations are required.

The broader initiative is sponsored by the non-profit Code.org with the backing of a wide variety of political, corporate, and personal supporters. The goal of the campaign is to introduce 10 million students to computer programming, with the ultimate goal of every student learning a basic level of programming.

Learn about the campaign to get students involved in a one-hour introduction to computer science, designed to demystify code and show that anyone can learn the basics of programming. Visit code.org or attend a special Hour of Code workshop at any U.S. Apple Retail Store on December 11, 5 p.m.

Steve Jobs makes a brief appearance at the 1:47 mark of the promotional video for the event, by way of a 1995 clip from "Steve Jobs: The Lost Interview".

Popular Stories

Apple iCloud Plus expansion hero

iCloud+ Now Includes Apple TV, Apple Arcade, and Curated Apple Music Stations in Over 100 Countries

Tuesday September 15, 2026 1:43 am PDT by
Apple today announced a new subscription initiative that turns paid iCloud+ subscriptions into a broader services bundle in more than 100 countries. In select countries, Apple says every paid iCloud+ plan, including the cheapest 50GB tier, now includes Apple TV and Apple Arcade "at no additional cost," while family sharing extends the storage, TV and Arcade access to up to five people....
Read Full Article • 111 comments
Everything New Your iPhone Can Do on iOS 27 Feature 1

50 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 27 - Out Now!

Monday September 14, 2026 10:48 pm PDT by
Apple released iOS 27 this week, and despite the company's focus this year on refining its flagship operating system and nixing bugs, there are still many additional features to explore, not least of which is Apple's new context-aware Siri, re-tooled for the generative AI era. Which iPhones Support Every iOS 27 Feature? This year's major iPhone software update isn't all about AI, though,...
Read Full Article • 50 comments
iOS 27 Icon iPhone

iOS 27 Available Now With These 8 New Features

Monday September 14, 2026 9:00 am PDT by
Update — 10 a.m. Pacific Time: Apple has released iOS 27. During its iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Duo event last week, Apple announced that iOS 27 will be released widely on Monday, September 14. iOS 27 should be available around 10 a.m. Pacific Time / 1 p.m. Eastern Time today via the Settings app, under General → Software Update. Below, we have highlighted eight new features and...
Read Full Article • 111 comments

Top Rated Comments

tigres Avatar
tigres
167 months ago
One hour?

That should cover the time it takes to install and configure Xcode.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
T
troop231
167 months ago
Pretty cool initiative. Just please teach them about memory management lol. :)
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
H
hansonjohn590
167 months ago
Care to explain why? We'd love to hear the reasoning.

Absolutely horrible syntax and all but useless outside Apple's environment.
There's a reason CS programs don't use it to teach students, high school kids would hate it even more.

Java and C++ are far better to teach OO principles. And far more useful in the real world.

That's not even diving into the technical aspects of the language, which is beyond the scope of this thread.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
H
hansonjohn590
167 months ago
Objective-C is a **** language to begin with and even moreso for an introductory class on programming.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
C
craig1410
167 months ago
Absolutely horrible syntax and all but useless outside Apple's environment.
There's a reason CS programs don't use it to teach students, high school kids would hate it even more.

Java and C++ are far better to teach OO principles. And far more useful in the real world.

That's not even diving into the technical aspects of the language, which is beyond the scope of this thread.

Java is marginally easier to understand than Obj-C but only on a very superficial level. Anyone who has worked with enterprise Java knows just how hideous it can easily become. C++ may at first appear to be easy to understand but beginners will quickly come unstuck.

Obj-C has been improved a lot in recent years not just through the vast libraries and frameworks provided by Apple but also in terms of language features themselves. It is a hugely powerful language and one that opens doors to the world of iOS and Mac OS X programming. There are definitely worse choices these days for someone beginning to program.

I've been programming for 30+ years and have used many many languages. I currently use Ruby for most things but also work regularly with Java, Javascript and Objective-C. They all have their strengths, weaknesses and quirks. I was taught at school and university largely using Pascal but have never used that commercially so maybe that wasn't the "best" choice at the time. Then again, I don't think that matters as any programmer worth their salt can easily take onboard a new syntax as long as they understand the fundamentals and have an open mind.

C.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
L
losthorse
167 months ago
-- removed by user --
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Read All Comments