Welcome to the Introduction to Computer Thinking Guide
I will tell you what I understand about computer thinking and why I should take this course In 2006, Professor Yizhen Zhou of Carnegie Mellon University published a paper titled "Computational Thinking" in Communications of the ACM, which systematically defined computational thinking for the first time. This opened a new process of popularization of computational thinking. Prior to this, the application of "computational thinking" in non-computer fields was mostly concentrated in scientific research circles, such as computational chemistry, computational biology, and computational decision making. In my understanding, computational thinking is a way of thinking about solving problems rather than specific subject knowledge. Seymour Papert once said, "The computer is not just a tool, it is a way of thinking." (Papert, 1980), this sentence makes me reflect on the relationship between computer and computational thinking, and makes me deeply realize that computational thinking is not only the ability to use computers, but also a new way of thinking. Computational thinking plays an important part in my study plan, because it has become a universally recognized way of thinking in the world. Like theoretical thinking and experimental thinking, anyone can use it to solve any problem, and thinking of programming as computational thinking is one of the common misconceptions about computational thinking, even some people who majored in computer science will have similar views, but it is not. Computational thinking is a conceptual way of thinking, while programming is a behavior, and although computational thinking is often used in the process of programming, computational thinking is not programming. In my future career planning, I hope to become an Internet worker, and deepening my understanding of computational thinking will help me become a better programmer.
