Introductory guide to Computational Thinking

By Hanyang Yu

What is computational thinking?

Firstly, I think computational thinking is one of the most important tools for programmers. In fact, computational thinking is not only something programmers must know, but it also a thinking tool for understanding our technology-infused social world [1]. The history of computational thinking back at least to the 1950s [1]. Seymour Papert is the first one who used computational thinking as a term in 1980 [2].

Why computational thinking is important?

The reason why computational thinking is important is nobody can learn programming without it. Computational thinking is valuable because it can guide us to understand the technology and design software to solve some problems. As Peter said, we need clear thinking to help us away form some bugs. As it for me, I am interested in robot control technology, so computational thinking is an indispensable part of my whole study. This is because it can guide me to find the main part of whole technology and help me focus on the main part, so I will not spend most of my time searching the main point of this technology.

References

1. Denning, P.J. and Tedre, M. 2019. Computational Thinking. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press.

2. Papert, S. 1993. Mindstorms: children, computers, and powerful ideas. New York: Basic Books.