FIT or unFIT:Change or Die

Become ObsoleteJohn Dougherty

Computer Science at Haverford Collegewww.cs.haverford.edu

What does he mean by “FIT or unFIT”?

• FIT: Fluent with Information Technology (hey, I didn’t make it up :-)

• Literate implies you have some skills with a set of computer applications

• Fluent means you get the concepts behind the applications, and are capable of applying these skills in various contexts

NRC reference; UWashington reference; Haverford reference (CS101: FIT)

Big Deal; What’s the real agenda?

• investigate some of the concepts and issues with computers, IT, and people

• discuss the relationship among computing, computation, computers and other IT

• try some exercises to explore computing (perhaps experiment with learning ideas)

discuss the role of computing in education

So, what do you know?

(This is the part where each of you gets to share with me you experiences, perceptions, and opinions about computing, and I try to summarize them and make useful observations)

What do you want?

• water-based computation -> logic of addition

• story-telling in a virtual world with Alice

• computation can’t handle conflict (abstract)

• algorithms for songs

• learning logarithms with a phonebook

• using cards to discover algorithms

computing, IT, and accessibility

Computing with H2O• Ingredients - big bucket of water

• paper cups, one small cup

• bar and aluminum plate

• Explain threshold gates

• OR, then AND, then XOR

• return to build others with Logg-o

build half adder, then full adder

Programming with Alice

• visit www.alice.org, download and install

• try the tutorial(s)

• picture a simple world, <30 seconds spot

• trial and error, ask questions

• object-based: properties, methods & functions

save image for webpage

Limits of Computation

• sing the Recursion Song a few times

• recursion can lead to issues (Infinite Regress) -- “lather, rinse, repeat”

• classic paradoxes (“this is a lie”, barber)

recall Cantor diagonalization, Godel incompleteness, then Turing’s Halting Problem

Song Algorithms

• sing the Recursion Song

• state the rules for the song

• state rules recursively (note: recursive description of the Recursion Song)

pick simple song and provide algorithm (e.g., row your boat, lady and the fly, hole in the bottom of the sea)

Logs and Phonbooks

• ask how many attempts to find a name

• ask how many more attempts to find if the phonebook was doubled in size, then 4x

• now ask about finding a number

• discuss relationship of sorting and searching

• extra: can you make a faster search?

Card Algorithms

• define a sorted deck of cards

• sort a deck of cards (time)

• discuss how it was sorted; formally?

• other ways? permutation, enumerate-test

• would more sorters help? hurt? let’s try!

Accessible Computing

• IT can leverage human potential, why not help enable the disabled

• use the web, google, Temple IoD

• vision: text-to-speech

• hearing: flashing alerts

• mobility: alternative input devices

• cultural issues: ???