Computational Thinking for the Modern Problem Solver (Hardcover)

What Is Computational Thinking?
Computers, Computers Everywhere
Computer, Computer Science, and Computational Thinking
From Abacus to Machine
The First Software
What Makes It a Modern Computer?
The First Modern Computer
Moore’s Law
Summary
When Will You Ever Use This Stuff?

How Real-World Information Becomes Computable Data
Information and Data
Converting Information into Data
Data Capacity
Data Compression
Summary

Logic
What Is Logic?
Boolean Logic
Applications of Propositional Logic

Solving Problems
Problem Definition
Logical Reasoning
Decomposition: Software Design
Decomposition: Other Uses
Abstraction: Class Diagrams
Abstraction: Use Case Diagrams
Summary
When Will You Ever Use This Stuff?

Algorithmic Thinking
Algorithms
Software and Programming Languages
Actions

Modeling Solutions
Activity Diagrams
Selection in Activity Diagrams
Repetition in Activity Diagrams
Control Abstraction in Activity Diagrams
States and State Diagrams
Including Behavior in State Diagrams
Providing More Detail in State Diagrams
Summary
When Will I Ever Use This Stuff?

Data Organization
Names
Lists
Graphs
Hierarchies

Algorithmic Thinking
Von Neumann Architecture
Spreadsheets
Text Processing
Patterns

Let’s Get It Correct
"Computer Errors" Usually Aren’t
Software Correctness
Verification
Software Testing
White Box Testing
Black Box Testing with Equivalence Partitioning
Boundary Value Analysis
When Will You Ever Use This Stuff?

Limits of Computation
How Is Capacity Measured in Computers?
An Estimate of the Physic al Limitations
Benchmarks
Counting the Performance
Impractical Algorithms
Impossible Algorithms
Metaphysical Limitations
When Will You Ever Use This Stuff?

Concurrent Activity
Parallelism or Concurrency?
Scheduling
Sorting Networks
Measuring Concurrency’s Effect
Challenges of Concurrency
When Will You Ever Use This Stuff?

Information Security
What Is Security?
Foundations
Common Forms of Cybercrime
How to Secure? Step 1: Authenticate
How to Secure? Step 2: Authorization
All a Matter of Risk
A Few Good Ideas
Good Strategies
When Will You Ever Use This Stuff?

References, Terminology, and Exercises appear at the end of each chapter.