Computational Thinking

Early personal computing opened up the realm of ‘computational thinking’ to a wide audience. This is not simply the discipline of computer programming. It’s a new general approach to problem-solving that uses algorithms, patterns, abstractions, and experimentation to vastly extend and augment traditional deductive reasoning.

Some resources

Brin, D. (2006) Why Johnny Can’t Code. Salon

  • An argument for free, pervasive, ad-hoc coding in education
  • The utility of the BASIC language

 
Brodie, L. (1981) Starting Forth. Forth.inc

  • A fun and compelling introduction to FORTH

 
Will, M. (2015) Forth: A Syntonic Language. scidata.ca

  • Why FORTH is a natural language for Computational Thinking
  • Written using hiking as a metaphor

 
Wing, J. (2006) Computational Thinking. ACM

  • The classic introduction to Computational Thinking