Computational Thinking (Paperback)

An introduction to computational thinking that traces a genealogy beginning 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 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. The authors identify six dimensions of today's highly developed CT--methods, machines, computing education, software engineering, computational science, and design--and cover each in a chapter. Along the way, they debunk inflated claims for CT and computation while making clear the power of CT in all its complexity and multiplicity.

一本關於計算思維的介紹，追溯到數個世紀前數位電腦出現之前的起源。

在數位時代的幾十年後，科學家們發現以計算方式思考可以開創全新的科學研究組織方式；最終，每個領域都出現了計算分支：計算物理學、計算生物學、計算社會學等。最近，「計算思維」已成為K-12課程的一部分。但是，什麼是計算思維？這本MIT Press Essential Knowledge系列的書提供了一個易於理解的概述，追溯到數個世紀前數位電腦出現之前的起源，並將計算思維描述為計算先驅所描述的方式。

作者解釋，計算思維（CT）不是一套用於編程的概念；它是一種通過實踐磨練的思維方式：設計計算來為我們完成工作的心智技能，以及解釋和解讀世界作為一個信息過程的複雜性。在電子計算機出現之前，接受數學訓練的專家（被稱為「計算機」）以團隊方式進行複雜計算，從事計算思維。作者在一章中確定了當今高度發展的計算思維的六個維度：方法、機器、計算教育、軟件工程、計算科學和設計。在此過程中，他們揭穿了對計算思維和計算的誇大宣稱，同時清楚地展示了計算思維在其所有的複雜性和多樣性中的力量。