Non-Code-Centric Texts in Introductions To Computer Science?
Hey list, I have an open ended question for this list that is intended to be a bit selfish and (hopefully) a bit beneficial for everyone else. Recently, I read Weizenbaum's Computing Power And Human Reason, in which he makes arguments about the things that AI should & shouldn't address. (It's a bit dated.) In it, he makes a point that because he is trained as a computer scientist he considers himself a poorly educated entrant to the debate, & later suggests that an introduction to computer science should be more than an introduction to programming, but also into some of the theory behind the field. (By "theory", I mean the conceptual ideas behind computing, not discrete mathematics.) As a computer scientist whose introduction to computer science was essentially an introduction to programming along with some key algorithms in the field and a few good software engineering practices, I found his argument appealing. As such, I'd like to ask the list -both computer scientists and non- what (if any) texts would you like undergraduate computer scientists to be exposed to that are _not_ solely focused on good practices in C++/Java/<Language of Choice> programming? Baudrillard's Simulacra And Simulations? Lessig's Code v. 2? Simon's The Sciences Of The Artificial? Some linguistics text by Chomsky? Or is this whole idea dumb & everything is totally hunky-dory? Best, pml
Peter, Could add Norbert Weiner's Cybernetics to the list. Or the more digestible version: The Human use of Human Beings. Great question all around! -r Robert MacDougall Associate Professor Communication/Media Studies Curry College 1071 Blue Hill Avenue Milton, MA 02186-2395 USA Office Ph: 617-333-2265 Wired media fiddle with the folk world - expose your kids to many modes. -----Original Message----- From: air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org [mailto:air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of Pete[r] Landwehr Sent: Monday, September 27, 2010 12:19 AM To: air-l@listserv.aoir.org Subject: [Air-L] Non-Code-Centric Texts in Introductions To Computer Science? Hey list, I have an open ended question for this list that is intended to be a bit selfish and (hopefully) a bit beneficial for everyone else. Recently, I read Weizenbaum's Computing Power And Human Reason, in which he makes arguments about the things that AI should & shouldn't address. (It's a bit dated.) In it, he makes a point that because he is trained as a computer scientist he considers himself a poorly educated entrant to the debate, & later suggests that an introduction to computer science should be more than an introduction to programming, but also into some of the theory behind the field. (By "theory", I mean the conceptual ideas behind computing, not discrete mathematics.) As a computer scientist whose introduction to computer science was essentially an introduction to programming along with some key algorithms in the field and a few good software engineering practices, I found his argument appealing. As such, I'd like to ask the list -both computer scientists and non- what (if any) texts would you like undergraduate computer scientists to be exposed to that are _not_ solely focused on good practices in C++/Java/<Language of Choice> programming? Baudrillard's Simulacra And Simulations? Lessig's Code v. 2? Simon's The Sciences Of The Artificial? Some linguistics text by Chomsky? Or is this whole idea dumb & everything is totally hunky-dory? Best, pml _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
Hi Peter, I think that there are actually quite a lot of books out there that may capture the interest of CS people without being centered on code or engineering practices. I'd suggest the following classics: "Winograd & Flores: Understanding Computers and Cogition" "Agre: Computation and Human Experience" "Brown & Duguid: The Social Life of Information" A good place to lookfor more may be: http://hci.stanford.edu/publications/bds/ I also think that the historical approach to computing has the potential to provide a wider perspective to your students. "Edwards: The Closed World" is quite fascinating and "Campbell-Kelly & Aspray: Computer. A History of the Information Machine" is still the best general history of computing I've read. cheers and good luck for tickling that inner humanist in your codesquad... B. -- Bernhard Rieder Laboratoire Paragraphe Université de Paris VIII bernhard.rieder@univ-paris8.fr http://bernhard.rieder.fr http://thepoliticsofsystems.net On 9/27/10 6:18 , Pete[r] Landwehr wrote:
Hey list,
I have an open ended question for this list that is intended to be a bit selfish and (hopefully) a bit beneficial for everyone else. Recently, I read Weizenbaum's Computing Power And Human Reason, in which he makes arguments about the things that AI should& shouldn't address. (It's a bit dated.) In it, he makes a point that because he is trained as a computer scientist he considers himself a poorly educated entrant to the debate,& later suggests that an introduction to computer science should be more than an introduction to programming, but also into some of the theory behind the field. (By "theory", I mean the conceptual ideas behind computing, not discrete mathematics.) As a computer scientist whose introduction to computer science was essentially an introduction to programming along with some key algorithms in the field and a few good software engineering practices, I found his argument appealing.
As such, I'd like to ask the list -both computer scientists and non- what (if any) texts would you like undergraduate computer scientists to be exposed to that are _not_ solely focused on good practices in C++/Java/<Language of Choice> programming? Baudrillard's Simulacra And Simulations? Lessig's Code v. 2? Simon's The Sciences Of The Artificial? Some linguistics text by Chomsky? Or is this whole idea dumb& everything is totally hunky-dory?
Best,
pml _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
Bernard - Strangely enough, the following book is a perfect introduction to computers as well as the underlying logic sets that forms the basis to computer science: Aspray, W., Ed. (1990). 1st edition. Computing before computers. Ames, IA, Iowa State University Press. There may be a second edition. As to how today's computers actually work, the old staple by Weizenbaum pretty much says it all (apologies I haven't read the whole thread someone has surely mentioned this already): Weizenbaum, J. (1976). Computer power and human reason: From judgment to calculation. San Francisco, CA, W.H. Freeman. A personal favorite, not quite so old and comprehensive on the different types of computer programming: Shasha, D. and C. Lazere (1998). Out of their minds: The lives and discoveries of 15 great computer scientists. New York, Copernicus, Springer-Verlag. Cheers, Denise Denise N. Rall, PhD. Special Projects, Faculty of Arts & Science Southern Cross University, Lismore NSW AUSTRALIA Mobile +(61)(0)438 233344 http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/esm/staff/pages/drall/ Popular Culture Association of Australia & New Zealand POPCAANZ Conf. Auckland, New Zealand July 2011 --- On Tue, 28/9/10, Bernhard Rieder <lists@procspace.net> wrote:
From: Bernhard Rieder <lists@procspace.net> Subject: Re: [Air-L] Non-Code-Centric Texts in Introductions To Computer Science? To: air-l@listserv.aoir.org Received: Tuesday, 28 September, 2010, 1:18 AM Hi Peter,
I think that there are actually quite a lot of books out there that may capture the interest of CS people without being centered on code or engineering practices. I'd suggest the following classics:
"Winograd & Flores: Understanding Computers and Cogition" "Agre: Computation and Human Experience" "Brown & Duguid: The Social Life of Information"
A good place to lookfor more may be: http://hci.stanford.edu/publications/bds/
I also think that the historical approach to computing has the potential to provide a wider perspective to your students.
"Edwards: The Closed World" is quite fascinating and "Campbell-Kelly & Aspray: Computer. A History of the Information Machine" is still the best general history of computing I've read.
cheers and good luck for tickling that inner humanist in your codesquad... B.
-- Bernhard Rieder Laboratoire Paragraphe Université de Paris VIII
bernhard.rieder@univ-paris8.fr http://bernhard.rieder.fr http://thepoliticsofsystems.net
On 9/27/10 6:18 , Pete[r] Landwehr wrote:
Hey list,
I have an open ended question for this list that is intended to be a bit selfish and (hopefully) a bit beneficial for everyone else. Recently, I read Weizenbaum's Computing Power And Human Reason, in which he makes arguments about the things that AI should& shouldn't address. (It's a bit dated.) In it, he makes a point that because he is trained as a computer scientist he considers himself a poorly educated entrant to the debate,& later suggests that an introduction to computer science should be more than an introduction to programming, but also into some of the theory behind the field. (By "theory", I mean the conceptual ideas behind computing, not discrete mathematics.) As a computer scientist whose introduction to computer science was essentially an introduction to programming along with some key algorithms in the field and a few good software engineering practices, I found his argument appealing.
As such, I'd like to ask the list -both computer scientists and non- what (if any) texts would you like undergraduate computer scientists to be exposed to that are _not_ solely focused on good practices in C++/Java/<Language of Choice> programming? Baudrillard's Simulacra And Simulations? Lessig's Code v. 2? Simon's The Sciences Of The Artificial? Some linguistics text by Chomsky? Or is this whole idea dumb& everything is totally hunky-dory?
Best,
pml _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
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_______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
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Quoting "Pete[r] Landwehr" <plandweh@cs.cmu.edu>:
Or is this whole idea dumb & everything is totally hunky-dory?
The idea isn't dumb, and things aren't even closely hunky-dory ! I recalled "an" earlier effort by the ACM to produce a standard "computer science" curriculum but could not recall when it was. So I did the sane thing and asked google about [acm recommendations for cs-1] ... I didn't find things similar to what I vaguely recalled but did come up with a nice summary of these efforts and some "start time" and "end time" data points ... ==== Martin Dickey, 2005. Model Curricula for Undergraduate Programs in Computer Science and Related Fields http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/dickey/curricula/ For a bit of the Bzyantine history of SW Engineering curricular efforts, see the CCSE Steering Committee's page and my notes from an old version of this web page. http://sites.computer.org/ccse/ ==== G. L. Engel, 1977, A Comparison of the ACMIC3S and the IEEE/CSE Model Curriculum Subcommittee Recommendations (PDF), http://www.computer.org/portal/web/csdl/doi/10.1109/C-M.1977.217612 Matthew Hertz, 2010. What do "CS1" and "CS2" mean?: investigating differences in the early courses, http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1734335 ==== I'd add two sources (1) Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility, http://cpsr.org/ (2) Peter G. Neumann, The Risks Digest, http://catless.ncl.ac.uk/risks (3) Marvin Minsky, The Society of Mind
participants (5)
-
Bernhard Rieder -
Denise N. Rall -
MacDougall, Robert -
Pete[r] Landwehr -
Stephen J Cavrak Jr