The Power of Computational Thinking: Games, Magic and Puzzles to Help You Become a Computational Thinker - Hardcover

Peter William McOwan; Paul Curzon

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1786341832 ISBN 13: 9781786341839

Publisher: World Scientific Europe, 2017

Synopsis

Overall, I believe that this book achieves its goals. It discusses a wide variety of problems from the perspective of computer scientists, and introduces the big ideas that underlie the mathematical way of thinking. I would certainly recommend it to a young person who has mathematical aptitude and needs insight into what computational thinking really means.

MAA Reviews

The Power of Computational Thinking shows that learning to think can be fascinating fun.

• Can you become a computational thinker?
• Can machines have brains?
• Do computers really see and understand the world?
• Can games help us to study nature, save lives and design the future?
• Can you use computational thinking in your everyday activities?

Yes, and this book shows you how.

Computational thinking has changed the way we all live, work and play. It has changed the way science is done too; won wars, created whole new industries and saved lives. It is at the heart of computer programming and is a powerful approach to problem solving, with or without computers. It is so important that many countries now require that primary school children learn the skills.

Professors Paul Curzon and Peter McOwan of Queen Mary University of London have written a unique and enjoyable introduction. They describe the elements of computational thinking - such as algorithmic thinking, decomposition, abstraction and pattern matching - in an entertaining and accessible way, using magic tricks, games and puzzles, as well as through real and challenging problems that computer scientists work on.

This book gives you a head start in learning the skills needed for coding, and will improve your real life problem solving skills. It will help you design and evaluate new technologies, as well as understand both your own brain and the digital world in a deeper way.

About this title

Review

A huge need and an outstanding author team with a glowing track record in this precise area. What more do you want? --Simon Peyton Jones (FRS), Microsoft Research, Cambridge UK

A wonderful book full of ideas with which to inspire and engage in computational thinking. Core concepts and principles are brought to life in fun and engaging ways through puzzles, magic tricks and games. This is a must-have book for Computing teachers. --Dr Kevin R Bond, Managing Director, Educational Computing Services Ltd

The book should be on the reading lists of teachers of computing. It gives an insight into our curriculum mantra, to use computational thinking ... to understand and change the world. --John Woollard, CAS Tenderfoot coordinator, CAS Assessment wg chair, BCS Certificate assessor

Edition details

• Publisher: World Scientific Europe
• Publication date: 2017
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1786341832
• ISBN 13: 9781786341839
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 232