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Rediscovering the Passion, Beauty, Joy and Awe: Making Computing Fun Again

Rediscovering the Passion, Beauty, Joy and Awe: Making Computing Fun Again. Andrew McGettrick, Eric Roberts, Dan Garcia, Chris Stephenson. Regarding the title …. Dangerously ambitious …

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Rediscovering the Passion, Beauty, Joy and Awe: Making Computing Fun Again

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  1. Rediscovering the Passion, Beauty, Joy and Awe: Making Computing Fun Again Andrew McGettrick, Eric Roberts, Dan Garcia, Chris Stephenson

  2. Regarding the title … • Dangerously ambitious … • In discussing these attributes of beauty, wonder, awe, etc. we have a duty (probably) to address issues such as the elegance and the mystery of Computing from our perspectives

  3. Comment from SIGCSE 07 • Grady Booch in his key-note address at SIGCSE 07 spoke about the need to articulate the ‘wonder and the awe’ of computing • This session is an opportunity for us to address that challenge • Everyone will have their own perspective; the four of us will offer our perspectives • Importantly we will leave time for other views to be aired

  4. Grady’s perspective? • We followed up on last year’s event and had a conversation with him • What emerged as his ‘wonder and awe’ • The breadth of the applications of computing • It is a privilege to work in an area where we can change lives

  5. Going further … • Given the rate of change of technology and the increased miniaturization, the range of applications keeps changing • Each new generation is faced with new challenges and new opportunities

  6. Links with Innovation • These observations point to the fact that there is an inevitable link between computing and innovation … the key to prosperity, competitiveness, etc. • Innovation for all, not just a small section of the community • Innovation across a huge range of application areas .. science, engineering, education, entertainment, transport, etc.

  7. Elegance - some suggestions • Simple formal grammar definition of language and semantics - finite describing the infinite - with recursive descent based compiler • Public key encryption • Design patterns • Visualization - aspects thereof • The notion of undecidability • SQL, Prolog, RISC, the Internet

  8. Mystery of computing? • Personal, of course • What are the basic principles and concepts underlying the discipline? • Peter Denning has made progress here • How can we simplify perceptions of the discipline (and so curricula) and make it more attractive to different audiences (young and not so young)? • What are the best and most effective ways of teaching it?

  9. And more … suggestions • Reading programs • How important is this and how can we teach it effectively • to stimulate (e.g. teach about fractals) • to teach good practice (e.g.avoid security holes) • Role of simple formalisms • Role of proof typified by link between induction and recursion • Through reuse (of programs and accompanying proofs) building environments to simplify programming

  10. And even more … • What are the important elements of the idea of computational thinking and how do we promote these effectively? • Can we find unifying ideas that stretch the imagination, e.g from Jeannette Wing, seeing programs as data and data as programs?

  11. Your thoughts?

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