I agree with the basic sentiment. There is no reason to learn to code just for the sake of learning to code. However, if your desire is to do something that can be achieved by learning to write some basic code, I can see a lot of merit in essentially learning enough to be dangerous. See: http://webootstrap.org/post/23037566816/bootstrapping-might-be-impossible-for-non-programmers

Thanks for the write up. I am bouncing back and forth now on using MonoTouch vs. digging into Obj-C. I will probably stick in the middle for a little while longer. For me, one of the bigger deal breakers will be how well I can re-use existing C# libraries in MonoTouch built applications.