pragma_x (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} pragma_x) wrote in leonardo_m, |
CS without a computer
Back in High-School (back in the dark ages), I once made it to the county science fair with a CS-based project. The problem that my lab partner and I had was: how do we communicate the virtues of a distributed sorting algorithm to the layperson?
The solution was amazingly simple: use a deck of cards to show the non parallel and parallel versions of the sort in action. That worked well enough to win us second place in our category, since the actual project wasn't flashy at all (two PC's, a null modem cable and console output) and could only be truly validated by reading the source code.
Cards are very useful for explaining CS concepts to newbies since most people are already intimately familiar with their properties. This familiarity also helps by not intimidating folks in the way that most CS stuff can. Throw in a bit a showmanship and suddenly your lecture turns into a kind of magic show; and who wouldn't pay attention to that?
Since then I've taken to using a deck of playing cards, dice and coins to help explain theoretical stuff to people; all without the aid of a computer. Sometimes, I think it works better than involving electronics in the first place.
Back in High-School (back in the dark ages), I once made it to the county science fair with a CS-based project. The problem that my lab partner and I had was: how do we communicate the virtues of a distributed sorting algorithm to the layperson?
The solution was amazingly simple: use a deck of cards to show the non parallel and parallel versions of the sort in action. That worked well enough to win us second place in our category, since the actual project wasn't flashy at all (two PC's, a null modem cable and console output) and could only be truly validated by reading the source code.
Cards are very useful for explaining CS concepts to newbies since most people are already intimately familiar with their properties. This familiarity also helps by not intimidating folks in the way that most CS stuff can. Throw in a bit a showmanship and suddenly your lecture turns into a kind of magic show; and who wouldn't pay attention to that?
Since then I've taken to using a deck of playing cards, dice and coins to help explain theoretical stuff to people; all without the aid of a computer. Sometimes, I think it works better than involving electronics in the first place.
