Author: Peter J. Denning
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262353423
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 266
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Book Description
This pocket-sized introduction to computational thinking and problem-solving traces its genealogy centuries before the digital computer. A few decades into the digital era, scientists discovered that thinking in terms of computation made possible an entirely new way of organizing scientific investigation. Eventually, every field had a computational branch: computational physics, computational biology, computational sociology. More recently, “computational thinking” has become part of the K–12 curriculum. But what is computational thinking? This volume in the MIT Press Essential Knowledge series offers an accessible overview—tracing a genealogy that begins centuries before digital computers and portraying computational thinking as the pioneers of computing have described it. The authors explain that computational thinking (CT) is not a set of concepts for programming; it is a way of thinking that is honed through practice: the mental skills for designing computations to do jobs for us, and for explaining and interpreting the world as a complex of information processes. Mathematically trained experts (known as “computers”) who performed complex calculations as teams engaged in CT long before electronic computers. In each chapter, the author identify different dimensions of today's highly developed CT: • Computational Methods • Computing Machines • Computing Education • Software Engineering • Computational Science • Design Along the way, they debunk inflated claims for CT and computation while making clear the power of CT in all its complexity and multiplicity.
Author: Eric Freeman
Publisher: "O'Reilly Media, Inc."
ISBN: 1491958812
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 1033
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Book Description
What will you learn from this book? Itâ??s no secret the world around you is becoming more connected, more configurable, more programmable, more computational. You can remain a passive participant, or you can learn to code. With Head First Learn to Code youâ??ll learn how to think computationally and how to write code to make your computer, mobile device, or anything with a CPU do things for you. Using the Python programming language, youâ??ll learn step by step the core concepts of programming as well as many fundamental topics from computer science, such as data structures, storage, abstraction, recursion, and modularity. Why does this book look so different? Based on the latest research in cognitive science and learning theory, Head First Learn to Code uses a visually rich format to engage your mind, rather than a text-heavy approach that puts you to sleep. Why waste your time struggling with new concepts? This multi-sensory learning experience is designed for the way your brain really works.
Author: Stephen Gislason
Publisher: Persona Digital Books
ISBN: 1894787870
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 216
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Book Description
This is a must read book by Stephen Gislason who simplifies complex issues and introduces new and sometimes surprising insights. Click the topics (left) to read from the book. From the introduction. "Humans resemble other animals in their ability to communicate. Communications involve chemical senses, sounds, body language, and visual signals. Communication is all about community, sharing information, sending warning signals and fulfilling the needs of the group. Human languages combine many different expressions of communication in a complex manner. Ideas about written language tend to dominate scholarly investigations, but sounds and gestures have been more important in the evolution of communication systems. Speaking is a spontaneous feature of the brain, and all normal children will speak if they hear a language spoken; any language will do. Older infants imitate words they hear spoken and if adults engage them in conversation, will expand their vocabularies and start to make meaningful statements; Words go with gestures Young children point with a pudgy index finger and say the name their pointer indicates. Pointing and naming remains an endearing characteristic for the rest of a human life. Babies follow the path of language evolution. Their progress is from the description of the immediate and concrete objects to making abstract statements about events; The first thing you do when you are learning a language is point and name. You invent nouns. Little tykes can get a lot accomplished with their pointing finger and a few nouns. Tourists in a foreign country revert to the two-year-old strategy of pointing, naming, using pantomime to replace the verbs they do not know;" One of the most important and least recognized features of the human mind is selftalk. In adults, selftalk is described as "thinking" or “reflection.” Aristotle declared that thinking was “inner speech” and he defined the rules of logic, the proper methods of constructing relationships among statements. Selftalk is a continuous narrative feature of the mind. Through selftalk, language becomes a dominant feature of cognition. Narrative dominance enables some of the best cognitive abilities that humans display, but narrative dominance can also be disabling; The recognition that selftalk is thought resolves tedious debates about the relationship of language to cognition. It is no longer necessary to argue that the structure and content of languages influence thinking. Language is thinking.
Author: Wolfgang Schreiner
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030805077
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 660
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Book Description
This book describes some basic principles that allow developers of computer programs (computer scientists, software engineers, programmers) to clearly think about the artifacts they deal with in their daily work: data types, programming languages, programs written in these languages that compute from given inputs wanted outputs, and programs that describe continuously executing systems. The core message is that clear thinking about programs can be expressed in a single universal language, the formal language of logic. Apart from its universal elegance and expressiveness, this “logical” approach to the formal modeling of and reasoning about computer programs has another advantage: due to advances in computational logic (automated theorem proving, satisfiability solving, model checking), nowadays much of this process can be supported by software. This book therefore accompanies its theoretical elaborations by practical demonstrations of various systems and tools that are based on respectively make use of the presented logical underpinnings.
Author: Leo Brodie
Publisher: Punchy Publishing
ISBN: 0976458705
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 313
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Book Description
Thinking Forth applies a philosophy of problem solving and programming style to the unique programming language Forth. Published first in 1984, it could be among the timeless classics of computer books, such as Fred Brooks' The Mythical Man-Month and Donald Knuth's The Art of Computer Programming. Many software engineering principles discussed here have been rediscovered in eXtreme Programming, including (re)factoring, modularity, bottom-up and incremental design. Here you'll find all of those and more, such as the value of analysis and design, described in Leo Brodie's down-to-earth, humorous style, with illustrations, code examples, practical real life applications, illustrative cartoons, and interviews with Forth's inventor, Charles H. Moore as well as other Forth thinkers.
Author: Maureen D. Neumann
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262045052
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 201
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Book Description
A guide for educators to incorporate computational thinking—a set of cognitive skills applied to problem solving—into a broad range of subjects. Computational thinking—a set of mental and cognitive tools applied to problem solving—is a fundamental skill that all of us (and not just computer scientists) draw on. Educators have found that computational thinking enhances learning across a range of subjects and reinforces students’ abilities in reading, writing, and arithmetic. This book offers a guide for incorporating computational thinking into middle school and high school classrooms, presenting a series of activities, projects, and tasks that employ a range of pedagogical practices and cross a variety of content areas. As students problem solve, communicate, persevere, work as a team, and learn from mistakes, they develop a concrete understanding of the abstract principles used in computer science to create code and other digital artifacts. The book guides students and teachers to integrate computer programming with visual art and geometry, generating abstract expressionist–style images; construct topological graphs that represent the relationships between characters in such literary works as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and Romeo and Juliet; apply Newtonian physics to the creation of computer games; and locate, analyze, and present empirical data relevant to social and political issues. Finally, the book lists a variety of classroom resources, including the programming languages Scratch (free to all) and Codesters (free to teachers). An accompanying website contains the executable programs used in the book’s activities.
Author: Felienne Hermans
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 163835605X
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 254
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Book Description
"A great book with deep insights into the bridge between programming and the human mind." - Mike Taylor, CGI Your brain responds in a predictable way when it encounters new or difficult tasks. This unique book teaches you concrete techniques rooted in cognitive science that will improve the way you learn and think about code. In The Programmer’s Brain: What every programmer needs to know about cognition you will learn: Fast and effective ways to master new programming languages Speed reading skills to quickly comprehend new code Techniques to unravel the meaning of complex code Ways to learn new syntax and keep it memorized Writing code that is easy for others to read Picking the right names for your variables Making your codebase more understandable to newcomers Onboarding new developers to your team Learn how to optimize your brain’s natural cognitive processes to read code more easily, write code faster, and pick up new languages in much less time. This book will help you through the confusion you feel when faced with strange and complex code, and explain a codebase in ways that can make a new team member productive in days! Foreword by Jon Skeet. About the technology Take advantage of your brain’s natural processes to be a better programmer. Techniques based in cognitive science make it possible to learn new languages faster, improve productivity, reduce the need for code rewrites, and more. This unique book will help you achieve these gains. About the book The Programmer’s Brain unlocks the way we think about code. It offers scientifically sound techniques that can radically improve the way you master new technology, comprehend code, and memorize syntax. You’ll learn how to benefit from productive struggle and turn confusion into a learning tool. Along the way, you’ll discover how to create study resources as you become an expert at teaching yourself and bringing new colleagues up to speed. What's inside Understand how your brain sees code Speed reading skills to learn code quickly Techniques to unravel complex code Tips for making codebases understandable About the reader For programmers who have experience working in more than one language. About the author Dr. Felienne Hermans is an associate professor at Leiden University in the Netherlands. She has spent the last decade researching programming, how to learn and how to teach it. Table of Contents PART 1 ON READING CODE BETTER 1 Decoding your confusion while coding 2 Speed reading for code 3 How to learn programming syntax quickly 4 How to read complex code PART 2 ON THINKING ABOUT CODE 5 Reaching a deeper understanding of code 6 Getting better at solving programming problems 7 Misconceptions: Bugs in thinking PART 3 ON WRITING BETTER CODE 8 How to get better at naming things 9 Avoiding bad code and cognitive load: Two frameworks 10 Getting better at solving complex problems PART 4 ON COLLABORATING ON CODE 11 The act of writing code 12 Designing and improving larger systems 13 How to onboard new developers
Author: Peter J. Rich
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 331952691X
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 423
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Book Description
This book reports on research and practice on computational thinking and the effect it is having on education worldwide, both inside and outside of formal schooling. With coding becoming a required skill in an increasing number of national curricula (e.g., the United Kingdom, Israel, Estonia, Finland), the ability to think computationally is quickly becoming a primary 21st century “basic” domain of knowledge. The authors of this book investigate how this skill can be taught and its resultant effects on learning throughout a student's education, from elementary school to adult learning.
Author: Stephen Wolfram
Publisher: Wolfram Research, Incorporated
ISBN: 9781944183059
Category : Mathematica (Computer file).
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
The Wolfram Language represents a major advance in programming languages that makes leading-edge computation accessible to everyone. Unique in its approach of building in vast knowledge and automation, the Wolfram Language scales from a single line of easy-to-understand interactive code to million-line production systems. This book provides an elementary introduction to the Wolfram Language and modern computational thinking. It assumes no prior knowledge of programming, and is suitable for both technical and non-technical college and high-school students, as well as anyone with an interest in the latest technology and its practical application.
Author: Lisa Tagliaferri
Publisher: DigitalOcean
ISBN: 0999773003
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 355
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Book Description
This educational book introduces emerging developers to computer programming through the Python software development language, and serves as a reference book for experienced developers looking to learn a new language or re-familiarize themselves with computational logic and syntax.
