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Think Again - Carnegie Mellon Today 2007
- 1. 7/19/2015 ThinkAgainCarnegieMellonToday http://www.carnegiemellontoday.com/issues/september2007issue/featurestories/thinkagain/ 1/3 September2007Issue SEARCH Go FeatureStories YadaYadaYada Brainstorm ThinkAgain HealthyChoices NewsFlash Alumni TheFence BeyondtheCut Inbox Columns SpecialEditions MakingNoise ReaderAlert WritetotheEditor PastIssues AbouttheMagazine IssueHome|>ThinkAgain ThinkAgain 0 By: Jonathan Szish About130computersciencefreshmenaregatheredinside7500WeanHall,thebiggestclassroominaneightstory buildingthathousesthecomputerscienceprogram.They’relearningaboutthe40yearhistoryandcultureofcomputer scienceatCarnegieMellon.It’sFreshmanImmigrationCourse,heldeachfall.JeannetteWing—whohasbeenthe departmentheadfornearlyayearandahalf—stepsupandsayshello.Shegivesabriefhistorylesson.Andwhatahistory itis: Fromoutofabasementinthebusinessschool,professorsHerbertSimon,AllenNewell,andAlanPerlisfoundedthecomputerscience departmentin1965.Perliswouldwinthe1966TuringAward—the“NobelPrize”ofcomputing—fortheworkhehaddoneasamember oftheteamthatdevelopedtheALGOLcomputerprogramminglanguage,whichisconsideredthemostimportantlanguageofitserain termsofitsinfluenceonlaterprogramminglanguages.In1975,NewellandSimonalsowontheTuringAwardfortheircontributionsto artificialintelligenceandthepsychologyofhumancognition.In1978,SimonreceivedtheNobelPrizeinEconomicsforhistheoryof decisionmaking,and,in1986,hewontheNationalMedalofScienceasdidNewellin1992.Theseluminariesestablishedanew discipline,computerscience,that’snowtaughtatuniversitiesaroundtheworld,andtheyhelpedfoundthefieldofartificialintelligence— thestudyofmakingmachines“think.”From1980to1988,NicoHabermannservedastheheadoftheUniversity’scomputerscience department.In1985,hecofoundedCarnegieMellon’sSoftwareEngineeringInstitutewithProvostAngelJordan.In1988,whenthe computersciencedepartmentbecameoneoftheUniversity’ssevencolleges,Habermannbecamethefirstdean.From1991to1993, HabermannheldtheprestigiouspositionofassistantdirectorforComputerandInformationScienceandEngineeringattheNational ScienceFoundation. Whenthehistorylessonisover,ahandpopsup. “So,Dr.Wing,whatareyougoingtocreatefortheuniversity?”thefreshmanasks. Gulp.Winghasneverreceivedaquestionlikethisinherinher20yearsasaCarnegieMelloncomputerscienceprofessor. “Hmmmm,”shepauses.Andthenitcomestoher:“Idohaveavisionthatgoesbeyondtheseinstitutionalwalls.Itisa visionfortheentirefieldofcomputerscience.Ascomputingbecomesmoreandmoreapartofoureverydaylives,Ibelieve thattofunctioninmodernsociety,everyonewillneedtobeabletothinklikeacomputerscientist.Icallthis‘computational thinking.’” Computationalthinking—thewordsJeannetteWingfirstpubliclyutteredinfall2005,inresponsetothatfreshman’s question—isawayofunderstandingallthequantumleapsthathavehappenedinsocietyinthepast50years.Thecatchy bannertermandtheideabehinditaretheguidingforcebehindanewCenterforComputationalThinkingatCarnegie MellonsponsoredbyMicrosoft.Itisbringingtogethertopresearchersfromuniversities,industry,andgovernmenttosolve realworldproblemsbyapplyingcomputerscienceknowhowtootherfieldslikephysics,economics,andtheenvironment. So,whatmakescomputationalthinkingsuchabreakthrough?Atitscore,computationalthinkingisabouttwothings: abstractionandautomation. Abstractionisawayoffocusingattentionontherelevantdetails,ignoringtheirrelevant. Automationmeansgettingmachinestoautomaticallymakesenseoftheavalancheofdatathatischaracterizingmoreand morefieldsofstudytoday.RobertConstable,deanoffacultyandinformationscienceatCornellUniversity,sayscomputers arenowaboutfourhundredbilliontimesfasteratnumericalcalculationthanhumans,andthey’regettingfasteryearby year—that’swhereautomationcomesin.Forexample,somemathematicalproofsaresocomplexthatonlyacomputer canverifythem. WhenthetwoAs—abstractionandautomation—areappliedtoeconomics,theenvironment,oranyotherfield,complex problemsthatwerepreviouslyunsolvablecanbesolved.That’sthegistofcomputationalthinking.Wingbelievesthat computationalthinkingwillbeafundamentalskillusedbyeveryoneintheworldwithin50years.Itisalreadychangingthe world. WebsiteslikeAmazon.comandeBayusecomputationalthinkingintheformofalgorithms,whicharesetsofinstructions— thinkrecipes—thatmakecomputersperformtasks.TheWebsiteshelpedtocreateanewWebbasedeconomythattrades