Want to learn how to code? Apple offers free lessons in Dubai

Dubai: Apple is set to offer free coding lessons to people of all ages in its Dubai stores, and worldwide, from Thursday,

The coding lessons are part of a bigger initiive announced on Tuesday that will offer a new range of classes starting January 31, 2019.

The hands-on group sessions will focus on photography, video, music, coding, art and design, and health and fitness. Apple says that lessons will be divided in to three categories: Skills, Walks and Labs.

Skills will be 30-minute classes, while Walks and Labs will offer more in-depth sessions lasting an hour and a half.

At their most basic, attendees will be able to learn how to take photographs on their iPhones and how to get the most out of their fitness app, while longer lessons will teach the public how to create their own emoji, or how to write their own song using GarageBand, the Apple music production software.

Visitors will not even need to own the devices to participate: Apple says it will lend iPhones or iPads to attendees who arrive without them.

Apple has also developed a series of classes specially designed for children, and for teachers, which will include how to create photo essays using iPhones, and how to make class video projects using the app Clips.

The sessions are designed to feed in to one another, encouraging attendees to attend the basic classes before moving on to the more advanced ones.

However, the company says it has designed the lessons in such a way to make “everyone successful,” said Karl Heiselman, a senior director at Apple, adding: “We don’t want to frustrate you.”

On the company’s coding lessons, Angela Ahrendts, Apple’s senior vice-president of retail and online stores, said that Apple was trying to help create the next wave of computer engineers.

“Most public schools aren’t teaching kids to code today. But if we want the next generation of app developers on the App Store, these kids have to learn the basics of coding,” she said.

“And why not do it in a fun way?”

A number of the more advanced classes have been designed in collaboration with famous artists.

For example, Apple will offer a songwriting class on GarageBand co-created with Florence Welch, of the band Florence + The Machine. It will also offer a lesson titled Small Screen Magic, which was designed in partnership with the wildly popular YouTuber Zach King, famous for his ability to use simple tricks to create impressive visual effects.

Also part of the new syllabus will be Walks, in which groups will leave the Apple store to walk around led by a guide, and in the process learn how to take photographs of architecture on the iPhone, or draw landscapes on the iPad using creative art applications.

Apple says it will also offer special classes for the disabled, including product accessibility lessons for the deaf community, for the hard of hearing, for those with reduced mobility, and for those with vision loss.

In addition to the lesson categories such as photography and videos, the company will offer individual product classes, specifically for the Apple Watch, the Mac, the iPhone, and the iPad.