Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!samsung!rex!wuarchive!cec2!news From: conrad@wucs1.wustl.edu (H. Conrad Cunningham) Newsgroups: comp.edu Subject: Re: Logo for college-level computer literacy courses Message-ID: <1990Aug2.131246.6932@cec1.wustl.edu> Date: 2 Aug 90 13:12:46 GMT References: <1990Jul31.195854.4630@cs.rochester.edu> <82599@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu> <52882@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu> <15490@thorin.cs.unc.edu> Sender: news@wucs1.wustl.edu (USENET News System) Reply-To: conrad@wucs1.wustl.edu (H. Conrad Cunningham) Organization: Washington University, St. Louis MO Lines: 51 In article <15490@thorin.cs.unc.edu> carr@pi.UUCP (Michael Carr) writes: > > The argument is between two different types of "computer literacy", >not ways to teach it. Is computer literacy 1) being able to use pre-packaged >software ( wordperfect, etc. ) or 2) being able to write your own programs >to manipulate the computer. > A third approach might be a course built around David Harel's book _Algorithmics: The Spirit of Computing_ (or its general audience version _The Science of Computing: Exploring the Nature and Power of Algorithms_) or some similar book. Although not really intended as a textbook, this book could perhaps be used in a more intellectually demanding course (quoting from the preface) "devoted to the science of computing and aimed at the technically oriented general" audience. "Its objective is to present a readable account of some of the most important and basic topics of computer science, stressing the fundamental and robust nature of the science in a form that is virtually independent of the details of specific computers, languages, and formalisms." Such a course would introduce the student to the intellectual content of computing, not just the current technologies and programming skills. Does anyone have experience with such a course? _Algorithmics: The Spirit of Computing_ by David Harel, Addison-Wesley, 1987. _The Science of Computing: Exploring the Nature and Power of Algorithms_ by David Harel, Addison-Wesley, 1989. The secondary titles for the chapters are interesting What's it all about? (history) Getting it done (algorithms and data) Getting it done by computer (languages) Getting it done methodically (algorithmic methods) Getting it done right (correctness) Getting it done cheaply (efficiency) You can't always get it done cheaply (intractability) Sometimes you can't get it done at all(noncomputability/undecidability) The simplest machines that get it done Getting it done by cooperating (parallelism) Getting it done by tossing coins (probabilistic algorithms) Are they better at it than us (AI) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- H. Conrad Cunningham | Title: Assistant Professor Dept. of Computer & Info. Science | Telephone: (601) 232-5358 Fax: 232-7010 The University of Mississippi | Internet: cunningham@cs.olemiss.edu 302 Weir Hall |-------------------------------------------- University, MS 38677 | Home: Rt. 1, Box 81, Oxford, MS 38655 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------