I feel like a more applicable use of this IS training wheels - interactive explainables that can bring a topic or a concept to life which can then be applied to a number of different contexts that will then not need specialist software or tooling to facilitate.

this is probably arguing analogies, but i think its worth delving a bit more on the training wheels analogy

the reason i think so is because with training wheels they seem like a shortcut/helpful but actually they actively harm and mislead about how to ride (leaning vs turning) and you become dependent on them and cant really function without them, but if you start out with the bicycle low enough where kids (or even adults) feet can tough the ground easily, they will just naturally put their feet to the ground when they loose balance and (quite quickly) learn to balance and ride much faster than if they ever used training wheels [0]

my claim is that we should help people to program, but not with training wheels but in a way that naturally occurs from using the tool (it goes without saying thst this is _very_ hard to implement)

[0] https://kidsrideshotgun.com/blogs/news/stabilisers-suck-why-...