- What do you like best about teaching technology classes?
Solving puzzles is great fun, and teaching seems like a great puzzle to me. And as the author of the greatest books ever written about the art of computer programming observes, “The process of preparing programs for a digital computer is especially attractive, not only because it can be economically and scientifically rewarding, but also because it can be an aesthetic experience much like composing poetry or music” (Knuth 1: v). When someone loves a subject, there's no greater pleasure than sharing the love of that subject with others.
- What is something that students can take from their technology courses to use in their daily lives?
In the blink of an eye, computing technology has emerged like a tsunami on the face of the earth. I hope students who take the programming courses I teach will take from them an appreciation for the fact that computers do not yet “think” like we do. They simply do exactly as they are told, no more and no less. It is helpful to have this concept firmly rooted in our minds as we interact with technology and ponder how it can and should be used.
- What is important about the skills you teach?
Computer science and math are very similar in this regard among others. Quoting one of my favorite authors again, “The applications are not the most important thing, and neither are the puzzles. Our primary goal is rather to get basic concepts into our brains, like notions of latin squares and exact covering. Such notions give us the building blocks, vocabulary, and insights that tomorrow's problem's will need” (Knuth 4A: 7).
Sources
- Knuth, Donald Ervin. Preface. The Art of Computer Programming: Vol. 1, Fundamental Algorithms. Reading: Addison-Wesley, 1973. Print.
- Knuth, Donald Ervin. "Chapter Seven Combinatorial Searching." The Art of Computer Programming: Vol. 4A, Combinatorial Algorithms. Boston: Addison-Wesley, 2011. Print.
* Responses to questions for the yearbook.