Coding is not debugging

Sometimes I am not quite sure whether a statement is obvious or not obvious at all. In such cases I try to take the view that if it was that obvious, I wouldn’t need to comment at all. Take the statement “Coding is not debugging”. Of course it isn’t. But to read what some people have written you could be forgiven for thinking that an ability to write good code automatically confers the ability to be good at debugging. Well, like the old Porgy and Bess song has it, it ain’t necessarily so.
Read More

Book review: Two girls, one on each knee (7)

ToC CrosswordYou could argue that crossword solving is a very good example of computational thinking. That is certainly what the security services thought during WW2 when they asked The Times to send them the names of anyone who could solve a cryptic crossword they’d supplied in 12 minutes or less. Those that did were invited to work at Bletchley Park, cracking codes for the war effort.
Read More

How computers decrease efficiency

Burglar Bill at largeNot everything that is good, is good. Take this as an example. If I were to give my neighbour’s children some private tuition in return for a modest fee, I could go out and spend the money, thereby contributing to the local and national economy. Everyone benefits.

On the other hand, if I were to go on a really prolific one-man burglary spree, they would have to employ extra police or pay the existing police force more overtime, local residents would invest in updated security systems and the local economy would benefit even more from all this spending.

Read More

ICT Lessons and internet privacy

Privacy keyboardWhatever you think of the current debate over news that the US Government may have been monitoring the online activity of not only its own citizens but those of other countries too, you have to admit one thing. It provides a great opportunity for ICT teachers everywhere to bring some real-world issues into their lessons, in a very newsy (ie current) way.
Read More