read by Mark Stehlik,each person could receive his or her diploma,get a handshake or hug from Mark,and get his or her picture taken.This pipeline allowed a steady stream of students to march across the stage.(A pipeline stall would often occur when the graduate's cap would topple while getting hug from Mark.) Seth Goldstein observed:"A buffet line.Why do they always put the dressing before the salad? The sauce before the main dish?The silverware at the start?They need some pipeline theory. Hashing.After a talk I gave at a department faculty meeting on my computational thinking vision,Danny Sleator came up to tell me that at his home they use a particular hashing function to store away Lego pieces.According to Sleator,they hash on these categories:rectangular thick blocks,other thick(non-rectangular)blocks,thins (of any shape),wedgies,axles,rivets and spacers,fits on axle,ball and socket,and miscellaneous.They even have rules to classify pieces that could fit into more than one category.He said that"Even though this is pretty crude,it saves about a factor of 10 when looking for a piece."Avrim Blum overheard Danny telling me this story and chimed in to say"At our home,we use a different hash function." Sorting.The following story is taken verbatim from an email sent by Roger Dannenberg,a professional trumpeter and computer scientist."I showed up to a big band gig,and the band leader passed out books with maybe 200 unordered charts and a set list with about 40 titles we were supposed to get out and place in order,ready to play.Everyone else started searching through the stack,pulling out charts one-at-a-time.I decided to sort the 200 charts alphabetically O(N log(N))and then pull the charts O(M log(N)).I was still sorting when other band members were half-way through their charts,and I started to get some funny looks,but in the end,I finished first.That's computational thinking." Benefits of Computational Thinking Computational thinking is the new literacy of the 21 Century.It enables you to bend computation to your needs.Why should everyone learn a little computational thinking?Cuny, Snyder,and I advocate these benefits [CunySnyderWing10]: Computational thinking for everyone means being able to Understand what aspects of a problem are amenable to computation ● Evaluate the match between computational tools and techniques and a problem o Understand the limitations and power of computational tools and techniques ● Apply or adapt a computational tool or technique to a new use Recognize an opportunity to use computation in a new way Apply computational strategies such divide and conquer in any domain Computational thinking for scientists,engineers,and other professionals further means being able to Apply new computational methods to their problems Reformulate problems to be amenable to computational strategies Discover new"science"through analysis of large data Ask new questions that were not thought of or dared to ask because of scale.easily addressed computationally Explain problems and solutions in computational terms 33 read by Mark Stehlik, each person could receive his or her diploma, get a handshake or hug from Mark, and get his or her picture taken. This pipeline allowed a steady stream of students to march across the stage. (A pipeline stall would often occur when the graduate’s cap would topple while getting hug from Mark.) Seth Goldstein observed: “A buffet line. Why do they always put the dressing before the salad? The sauce before the main dish? The silverware at the start? They need some pipeline theory.” Hashing. After a talk I gave at a department faculty meeting on my computational thinking vision, Danny Sleator came up to tell me that at his home they use a particular hashing function to store away Lego pieces. According to Sleator, they hash on these categories: rectangular thick blocks, other thick (non-rectangular) blocks, thins (of any shape), wedgies, axles, rivets and spacers, fits on axle, ball and socket, and miscellaneous. They even have rules to classify pieces that could fit into more than one category. He said that “Even though this is pretty crude, it saves about a factor of 10 when looking for a piece.” Avrim Blum overheard Danny telling me this story and chimed in to say “At our home, we use a different hash function.” Sorting. The following story is taken verbatim from an email sent by Roger Dannenberg, a professional trumpeter and computer scientist. “I showed up to a big band gig, and the band leader passed out books with maybe 200 unordered charts and a set list with about 40 titles we were supposed to get out and place in order, ready to play. Everyone else started searching through the stack, pulling out charts one-at-a-time. I decided to sort the 200 charts alphabetically O(N log(N)) and then pull the charts O(M log(N)). I was still sorting when other band members were half-way through their charts, and I started to get some funny looks, but in the end, I finished first. That's computational thinking.” Benefits of Computational Thinking Computational thinking is the new literacy of the 21st Century. It enables you to bend computation to your needs. Why should everyone learn a little computational thinking? Cuny, Snyder, and I advocate these benefits [CunySnyderWing10]: Computational thinking for everyone means being able to • Understand what aspects of a problem are amenable to computation • Evaluate the match between computational tools and techniques and a problem o Understand the limitations and power of computational tools and techniques • Apply or adapt a computational tool or technique to a new use • Recognize an opportunity to use computation in a new way • Apply computational strategies such divide and conquer in any domain Computational thinking for scientists, engineers, and other professionals further means being able to • Apply new computational methods to their problems • Reformulate problems to be amenable to computational strategies • Discover new “science” through analysis of large data • Ask new questions that were not thought of or dared to ask because of scale, easily addressed computationally • Explain problems and solutions in computational terms