Week Ending 23 August 2008

MOTD::First Posting For Fall 2008
This is the first posting to the 34th edition of the MOTD (Message Of The Day). I've been doing the MOTD since the fall of 1997.

Computing::Peter Denning on Computational Thinking
Peter Denning did an excellent job describing "computational thinking" in an ACM "IT Profession Viewpoint." Denning's essay was sub-titled: "The choir of engineers, mathematicians, and scientists who make up the bulk of our field better represents computing than the solo voice of the programmer."

Denning's essay had to do with CS enrollments and that the "CS = programming" myth is alive and well.

In his essay, Denning speaks in six voices of computing professionals: the programmer, the user, the computational thinker, the mathematician, the engineer and the scientist. He also speaks in a seventh voice--the catalog. He calls the seventh voice the "last voice" because "it may be the last voice consulted by young people before deciding against computing as a major."

The six professional voices all start the same way... "I love programming"... "I love using computers"... "I love problem solving"... "I love mathematics"... "I love building things"... and "I love discovering new things about nature." The last voice, which is dull and boring, says nothing about "love."

Here are quotes from Peter Denning's description of computational thinking.

   "I love problem solving.  Not just any old problem solving,
    but problem solving using algorithms. [...] Sometimes I
    implement those solutions myself, and sometimes I let my
    friends the programmers do that. [...] I'm all about thought.
    One of my greatest successes is to get politicians to think
    that through their laws they are programmers of national
    social systems.  I've got economists thinking they can
    program the economy with right policies.  Perhaps my
    greatest triumph is to get people everywhere to think
    their brains are computers and that everything they
    do and say is simply an output."

Later in the same issue of the Communications of the ACM in which Denning's "IT Profession Viewpoint" was published, there was an "Education Viewpoint" titled and "Paving the Way for Computational Thinking." The sub-title of the "Education Viewpoint" was: "Drawing on methods from diverse disciplines--including computer science, education, sociology, and psychology--to improve computing education."

Math::Functionary is Not a Math Dictionary
The front-page of the Arizona Republic's Valley and State section on Friday, 22 August 2008, had a story headlined: "Flake says neo-Nazi tie hurts GOP."

The Republic's story contained the following phrase: "[...] to demand removal of a minor functionary on the lowest rung of the party's ladder."

Functionary? Sounds like a math dictionary containing definitions for function related terms. For example: What's the definition for "practical domain"? Hmmm... hold on while I look it up in my functionary.

However, functionary is not a math dictionary--it's a noun.

   functionary. (2008). In Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary.
   Retrieved August 22, 2008, from 
   http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/functionary
   "1: one who serves in a certain function
    2: one holding office in a government or political party"

All of us are probably functionaries whether we like it or not. For example, MathBabbler is a computing functionary because computing is his profession. The "neo-Nazi" mentioned in the Arizona Republic's article is a political functionary.

TempeHiker::A Quick Visit to See Ed The Hotdogger
I went to downtown Phoenix to visit Ed The Hotdogger on 15 August 2008. While wandering Phoenix, I got pictures of the Madison Square Garden Memorial and some final pictures of Patriots Square. {TempeHiker::Downtown Phoenix and Ed The Hotdogger}

[23 August 2008 (classes start in two days; 83° at 7:35am) top]