CS Unplugged: Computer Science Without a Computer
I'm very happy to see this. I've taught computer science at the college level. Whether you realize it or not, learning CS has very little to do with typing symbols into a computer. While it's true the computer sometimes surprises us, I've told my students that if you can't run the program in your head, then you simply don't understand what's going on. You haven't learned anything.<p>More often than not, the computer facilitates a guess and check programming mentality that isn't just endemic to students, but to our profession in general. I'm certainly not immune to the temptation to fix problems by repeated runs with small tweaks: "Does it work? No... no... no... yes! Move on!" That's not computer science. It's data entry.<p>It's not that computers have no place in the curriculum. They can be immensely helpful in understanding of complex algorithms, much the same way performing an experiment can lead to a more thorough understanding of physics, or chemistry. However, no one would argue chemistry is about moving chemicals from one test tube to another.