DeCode

According to UC Berkeley Booth Camps, each and every one of the 11 most in-demand programming languages is English-based. Programming being available in only 1 of 7,139 beautiful languages of planet Earth means that native speakers of 7,138 languages are collectively denied access to the field of programming. This figure translates into 75% of the world's population, or simply put, some 6 billion people. The fact presented herein that the overwhelming majority of coding languages are only available in English is a big problem when it comes to equal, global access to the field of computing — particularly in an age where our future job markets are collectively undergoing digital transformations.

But, how does this problem exacerbate learning and job market inequality? In the digital workforce, programmers from 3 of the official 193 UN-recognized countries account for 28.19% of the world's programming population. Those countries referred to herein are namely the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada — sharing the commonality of English being their national language. Again, the underrepresentation of people from other beautiful parts of the world in the global programming population stems from programming commands and syntax being ONLY available in English.

If programming is monolingual, this lack of equal access only hurts those who need access to it the most. Looming advances in neural networks and large language models — the very technology that powers ChatGPT, threaten to progressively squeeze humans out of their occupations over the next few decades, especially in developing countries. Groups of people who are disproportionately affected by the advancement of computing deserve to be able to make sense of and study these technologies that are upending their livelihoods. Thus, it is imperative to provide the skills that young people need to thrive in a digital era. This must be done by equipping non-English-speaking regions with the programming skills needed to be well-equipped to succeed in a world driven by computing.

DeCode mitigates the aforementioned burning-hair problem by preparing non-English-speaking populations for the demands that come with programming. The DeCode mobile app addresses this growing division between language and computing skills needed for the future workforce through our aforementioned functions, thereby ensuring all youth have equitable employment opportunities in an increasingly digital job market.

There are 3 ways through which DeCode fosters programming education, enhances the adaption of non-English-speaking populations to a web-based environment, and provides access to relevant skills in computing:

• First, by offering an aggregate library of syntax and coding templates with comments in other languages, DeCode provides a set of online tools that help educate our users of all ages on the basics of programming in a programming language of their choice! In doing so, we empower CS enthusiasts to study at their own pace, focused on skill mastery to help users establish strong foundations so there will be no limit to what they can code/program next.

• Next, the DeCode chatbot uses natural language processing to answer any coding questions in any language. It is an AI-powered assistance tool catered towards meeting all of the user's needs as they arise when working with their programs. We integrated GPT-4 through API and tailored it towards programming questions by adding an if-clause onto the model. This way users can get their questions answered, source code reviewed, and even error messages destroyed by the latest version of ChatGPT.

• Lastly, we provide a "Community Hub" so that after programs are completed, users can upload their product and gain the achievement and fulfillment of publishing their work. The current system of question-and-answer websites for non-English-speaking programmers is extremely decentralized as English continues to rule as the de facto language in programming, which DeCode solves by providing an in-app sharing forum that centralizes foreign coding populations into a single space with users being able to filter to find their language community.

The algorithms of DeCode will help aspiring programmers from non-English speaking backgrounds by creating a visually-guided solution to this problem and finally, address this problem as the language roadblock to democratizing the field of computing that it is. 

We believe that coding is universal. Because everybody, everywhere should be able to learn to code.

The target users of DeCode are computer science enthusiasts who are unfamiliar with the English language. The DeCode app is not exclusive to any specific social demographic, in fact, our users can be anyone from secondary school students in rural Madagascar interested in exploring potential career fields in computing to university graduates in Turkey looking to pick up new programming abilities beneficial to their employment horizons, to simply any passionate CS explorer who feels confined by the language barrier that comes with programming in English (the only available language option that is widely-adapted by programmers worldwide as of 2023).

And their go-to CS learning buddy? Yup, you guessed it! DeCode is the great equalizer — seamlessly amplifying the access of our colorfully diverse population on Earth to a futuristic job market (namely the field of computing) that, as of today, is narrowly designed to be exclusively monolingual.

The team behind DeCode is well-positioned to deliver our solution to the target audiences because of the location of our team. There is most especially a persistent gap in learning and educational opportunities for Ukrainian refugees in Poland. Forced to flee the Russo-Ukraine War, yet unable to adapt to Polish educational systems and employment opportunities due to significant language barriers, these Ukrainian refugees are most vulnerable to falling in the grey areas of users whom social innovations target in advertising their product. In other words, NGOs who share our mission of leveraging technology to address equity gaps in learning may not be aware of the existence of this massive population of Ukrainian refugees in Poland who are in particular need of support in their educational endeavors. This unawareness is not applicable in the case of DeCode.

Based in Warsaw, Poland, we are able to reach this target population, particularly Ukrainian refugee children who are "home-schooled" by (mostly) their mothers due to the language inaccessibility of the Polish educational system. Thus, the most up-to-date version of DeCode has already been widely promoted to Ukrainian teens (and adults) in the Lipowa Refugee Center here in Warsaw, Poland.

However, we understand that persistent language barriers in global access to computing do not stop in only Poland. It extends from Africa to Asia to the Middle East and all over the world. Thus, to reach our target groups at large, the marketing of DeCode will define our ultimate success. Given the digital interconnectivity of all regions of the world, we will continue to base our outreach campaigns on social media marketing, co-branding with influencers and organizations that share similar social missions, and word-of-mouth marketing such as speaking at TEDx events. 

DeCode is built using Swift and SwiftUI on XCode. Firebase was used as the cloud computing service behind the mobile application, and Figma was used for initial design prototypes. After weeks of working with the Apple Developer team back and forth, DeCode was finally approved for publication and it is now available on the Apple App Store for public downloads. 

Since its initial launch, DeCode has garnered 2.7K+ impressions and received 35 net downloads. The following visual is a screenshot depiction of our existing statistics on App Store Connect:

We are currently in the marketing and branding phase to achieve further traction and reach our target audience of non-English-speaking, programming enthusiasts. With an established Instagram and LinkedIn account, consistent daily postings (including memes that aim to follow existing trends), and continued research into search engine optimization, DeCode is on the road to expanding our user base and truly providing non-English-speaking communities with the skills needed to be well-equipped to succeed in the new digital landscape of computing.

We applied to Solve to develop soft skills, both through the application process and (hopefully) through the 9-month virtual support program should DeCode be selected as a Solver team. Particularly, we are looking to gain visibility, connect with the like-minded community of Solve, gain expert advice through mentorship opportunities, as well as receive funding to propel DeCode forward. Another reason is that DeCode would benefit from marketing opportunities and gain exposure in the media and at conferences, which Solve provides. At the moment, our mobile application is available on the App Store, but in order to truly help the non-English-speakers for whom DeCode was created and reach a user base larger than the 2.7K+ impression we already received, Solve would be the perfect avenue through which DeCode excel and sprout from a tiny innovation into a greater, socially-beneficial technology.

A critical analysis of the innovativeness of a product is only effective when it includes an analysis of existing market solutions. The evaluation below ensues with a description of the competitive advantage of DeCode:

• One existing solution is "Swift Playgrounds", an educational tool developed by Apple Inc. that helps teach the Swift programming language. It can be accessed on Mac and iPad devices but not on mobile devices. There are a few stark contrasts between Swift Playground and DeCode. Most noticeably, Swift Playground is limited to teaching the ins and outs of the Swift programming language — one of the few thousand programming languages. Thereby, this existing solution fails to solve the problem of allocating equal access to skills development in computing as its resources are too narrow and not applicable to the full-stack coding skills one will need to enter the field of computing in the real world.
• Another existing solution is "Scratch", a learning platform developed by the MIT Media Lab. One competitive advantage that easily puts DeCode over Scratch as a more convenient alternative for programming education is the fact that Scratch only targets users between the age of 8-16 as exemplified by its colorful block-based programming interface. There is little correlation (structural-wise) between the service Scratch provides and the real codes their users will probably use when they mature into real programmers. In other words, although Scratch is useful in teaching younger students the overarching concept of coding as well as some basic programming skills such as problem-solving, it fails to prepare anyone for the field of computing given that block-based programming is not a real programming language. Thus, Scratch is merely a complementary tool for learning WHAT IS programming, not HOW TO program.
• Lastly, "Chinese Python" is a complete translation of the Python coding language into a Chinese version of itself. Not only is all the documentation and all the error codes in Chinese, but entire programs are to be typed in Chinese — all the variables can be in Chinese, and all the built-in functions are named in Chinese. Yes, this method of translating entire programming languages into a foreign language can be considered a somewhat convenient way to alleviate language barriers for non-English speakers. But, the widespread adoption of this method will do more harm than good by causing further division by exponentially proliferating the number of programming languages in the world.

Unlike "Swift Playgrounds", "Scratch" or "Chinese Python", DeCode is a user-oriented service that equips young adults and adults with the programming knowledge and skills required to succeed in the increasingly digital workplace. The central tenet of our mobile app is to complement users in their journey to studying programming most conveniently. We accomplish this by molding our offers into a MOBILE application which cannot be any more accessible for users. For example during public transit, our users can refresh their memories by flipping our syntax flashcards or using the plethora of other functions DeCode offers.

• Growth in the number of non-English speakers transitioning to become full-blown programmers;
• Incremental increase in the percentage of programmers in non-English-speaking countries;
• Rise in mobile apps and web apps developed by non-English-speakers;

The urgent need for learning equality is intimately intertwined with the fate of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals. It's not only an emblem of how far we've come as a civilization, but a harbinger of how far we will go in fulfilling the demands of sustainability and development by 2030. The principles of equality — particularly in leaving no one behind through education — run deep into the very DNA of our Global Goals, and serve as proxies for meeting our paramount desire for global prosperity.

But one persistent reality in global education is that TALENT is EVERYWHERE, but OPPORTUNITY and ACCESS are NOT.

Today, the disparity in the quality of education and preparation for an increasingly digitalized job market between the most affluent and most remote regions of the world is expanding by the minute. Most notably, the advent of cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and robotics risks replacing job opportunities for millions who are engaged in occupations of "unskilled labor". 

As the world embarks on a journey into a digital era where technologies are increasingly intertwined into our daily lives, it is more important now than ever to guarantee that everyone deserves a fair shot at the very invention that will revolutionize the world of yesterday into the world of tomorrow. Otherwise, we risk sliding rapidly into a pandemonium where conditions to adapt to changing job markets are absent for over two-thirds of the world's population.

Because keywords (known as syntax) in coding are based on their literal English definition, the difference between English and foreign languages — such as Arabic or Chinese with its completely different alphabets — would render proficiency in English as a prerequisite for programming. Thus, there is a burning need in the perspectives of non-English-native CS enthusiasts to learn to program, by mastering (1) the definition of English keywords/syntax in codes; and (2) how these keywords/syntax function in a line of code. 

This is where DeCode jumps in. DeCode is a mobile app that aggregates CS vocabulary into visually-guided flashcards and tailors the GPT-4 language model to assist non-English-speaking programming enthusiasts, amplifying accessibility to the field of computing for everyone, everywhere. We aim to foster programming education, enhance the adaption of non-English-speaking populations to the web-based job market, and democratize access to relevant skills in computing. Particularly, our success will be measured using the following indicators:

• Scale DeCode to reach 500,000 impressions (measured/tracked using the App Store Connect analytics function);
• Obtain 10,000 net downloads and increase the retention rate of users (measured/tracked using the App Store Connect analytics function);
• Integrate DeCode in educational curriculums as an AI-powered tool to assist programming education;
• Implement new language aids and new features in the DeCode mobile application;

• DeCode was built using the Swift programming language on XCode.
• Figma was used to create an initial visual mockup of the app.
• Firebase, a cloud computing service, is employed in storing data, including usernames, user passwords, user posts, profile photos, and user messages. It helps in organizing data into collections and documents, allowing for powerful querying capabilities (retrieving data based on specific criteria). Additionally, Firebase was great for user interactions, as whenever changes are made to the database, Firebase can instantly synchronize it across all connected devices.
• The GPT-4 language model from OpenAI was deployed as a function that DeCode offers to our users as well. It is integrated into DeCode to provide real-time, accurate assistance to complex programming questions posed by users in different languages. The model itself has been specifically augmented in the developmental process of DeCode to adhere to the user’s coding needs. 

1 founder & app developer.

1.5 years

DeCode is developed by Xinying Sui, our founder. She originated from Beijing, China, and lives in Warsaw, Poland. The mission of DeCode is inclusive at its core. For example, our app has been promoted using advertising flyers to 150+ Ukrainian refugees who would benefit from using the service of our solution-based programming helper. This is only an emblem of our determination to serve diverse cultural, demographic, and geographic populations, and it is only the beginning of our impact in amplifying accessibility to the field of computing for everyone, everywhere.

As DeCode is driven by the social mission of uplifting vulnerable demographics who are actively being left on the margins by the advancement of computing, to fulfill this mission to its greatest extent, the app is accessible for free, public usage by ways of public downloads on the App Store. Thus, the majority of DeCodes's features and functions will be granted to users free of charge. 

However, with full consciousness of the need for a consistent revenue stream to help maintain projected operational expenses and invest in future research and development (R&D), DeCode will be raising funds from iNGOs and various foundations. We strive to engage in partnering with sponsors who can financially support the operation of our various cloud computing services and large language models.

Outside of staying hopeful in aspiration for sponsorships and partnerships, DeCode will work with advertising prospects (companies who wish to advertise on our platform) once our mobile application and/or social media channels have attracted widespread traction and an expansive user base. This will kill two birds with one stone with the dual purpose of maximizing our social impact of keeping DeCode free of charge for its target users and providing sustainability to our operation model with revenue streams originating from advertising prospects and sponsors.