Jan 16. Computer science and personality, part 1.
Levy, Hackers, chapter 1: "The Tech Model Railroad Club", pg 1-12. 1984
Levy's book is a sketch of some of the personalities in the early days of the hacker community. In this first chapter, Levy traces the origins of hacker culture to a student model railroad club at MIT. We're using this to begin a discussion about the personality types of people who have traditionally been drawn to computer science. This reading is also the first in a recurring theme this semester about the culture of the hacker community.
Jan 23. Computer science and personality, part 2; computer science education, part 1
Weinberg, The Psychology of Computer Programming, chapter 8: "Personality Factors," pg 13-23. 1971 ("Silver Anniversary" edition 1998)
Dijkstra, "On the cruelty of really teaching computing science", pg 25-54. 1988
Weinberg's book is a classic about, well, the psychology both of the activity of computer programming and of those who practice it. I think chapter 8 gets at the core of the book; it at least is what's most memorable for me. I think you know that Dijkstra has influenced my thinking about computer science and how I teach it. Now you can hear about it from his own words (and in his own handwriting). Dijkstra's ideas are more respected than followed---even by me.
Jan 30. Computer science education, part 2; computer science and women and minorities, part 1.
Harvey and Wright, preface to Simply Scheme, pg 55-62. 1999
Gabriel, "Master of fine arts in software," pg 63-67. If you're having trouble reading the copy in the manual, you can find an electronic version here. Undated, but I would guess it was written around 2000.
Kihlstrom, "Men are from the server side, women are from the client side," pg 69-80. 2003
Whitney and Taylor, "Increasing women and underrepresented minorities in computing", pg 131-138. 2018
Varma, "Making computer science minority-friendly," pg 129-144. 2006
The preface to the textbook Simply Scheme is a concise example of an explicitly contrarian view (right out of "hacker culture"). We'll be hearing more from Dijkstra later this semester. Gabriel's proposal for a Master of Fine Arts in Software is part of a different conversation, but I added it here because it is also about computer science education. We'll be hearing more from Gabriel, too. Kim Kihlstrom, who wrote the other piece we're reading, was a CSCI professor at Westmont College and was a leader among CSCI faculty at Christian colleges. (She passed away in 2008.)
Feb 6. Computer science and women and minorities, part 2.
Thompson, "The ENIAC girls vanish", chapter 7 in Coders, Penguin Press, 81-104. 2019
Why are there so few women in computer science? Other STEM fields---see mathematics and biology in particular here at Wheaton---have made great gains in attracting female students. What's wrong with us? This podcast episode suggests it wasn't always like that and points to specific things that may have discouraged women from joining the field. It refers to Unlocking the Clubhouse, which is one of the most well-known works that addresses this question. This book by Thompson is newer.
Feb 13. Computer science and women and minorities.
Shetterly, chapters 1-5 in Hidden Figures, pg 105-129. (Appears in the table of contents under the name of the first chapter, "A door opens".) 2016
The book that the movie was based on.
Feb 20. Computer science and power.
Abelson and Sussman, introduction to Structure and Interpretation of Computer Program, pg 145-146. 1996
Weizenbaum, Computer Power and Human Reason, chapters 1, "On Tools", and 4, "Science and the compulsive programmer", pg 147-169. (Appears in the table of contents with a separate entry for each chapter.) 1976
SICP is one of the most respected introductory programming texts (again, more respected than used). Reading this introduction continues threads from CSCI ed and hacker culture (Sussman is one of the personalities in Levy's book). What sticks with me is the brazenness of their comparison of programming with sorcery. Weizenbaum, who observed the early days of hacker culture firsthand, was one of the first people to articulate concern about what the power of computer programming does to people.
Feb 27. The ethics of hacker culture.
Levy, Hackers chapter 2, "The Hacker Ethic", pg 171-176. 1984
Various essays by the Free Software Foundation and/or Richard Stallman, pg 177-187. (Appears in the table of contents as two entries.) 2015 and earlier
Crisman, "Open Source Software and Christian Thought", pg 189-199. 2015
As one of the first observers of hacker culture, Levy also noticed that this culture has a distinct ethical philosophy. The most important contemporary expression of this ethic is in the open-source/free software movement, and it spills over into the entire debate about intellectual property. Karl-Dieter Crisman, a math professor at Gordon College (a Christian college in Massachusetts), gives a Christian assessment.
Mar 5. Governance.
Goldsmith and Wu, "How governments rule the net", from Who Controls the Internet?, pg 201-211. 2006
Abelson et al, "Keys under doormats", pg 213-218. This turned out very hard to read in the course manual. Find the full document here 2015
Mar 12. No class. Spring break.
Mar 19. No class. Extended spring break.
Mar 26. Business.
Bradbury, "Unveiling the dark web", pg 219-222. 2014
Zuckerman, "The Internet's original sin", pg 223-229. 2014
Duhigg, "How companies learn your secrets", pg 231-238. 2012
Apr 2. Privacy and security
Anderson, "Why information security is hard", pg 239-246. The manual version is hard to read; find an electronic copy here
Diffie and Landau, "Internet eavesdropping", pg 247-250. 2008
Solove, "Why privacy matters, even if you have 'nothing to hide'", pg 251-254. If you have trouble reading the copy in the manual, find an electronic copy here. 2011
Ridgeway, "Fixing our privacy settings", pg 255-260. (Appears in the table of contents as "Alexa is my Savior", which is actually the first sentence of the article, not its title.) 2018
Thompson, "Reflections on trusting trust", pg 261-263. 1984
Apr 9. Design, part 1
Norman, The Design of Everyday Things, chapter 1, "The psychopathology of everyday things, pg 297-313. 1988
Huttenlock, "Establishing a Framework for Evaluating Technology", pg 355-367. 2010
This topic follows closely on the production of software. Norman's book on design, especially bad design, is a classic that gets quoted a lot in CSCI circles, especially in the context of user interfaces. Finally, Terry Huttenlock works in Buswell Library; her Faith and Learning Paper also gives a Christian perspective on technological design.
Apr 14. Design, part 2
Apple Computer, Inc, Macintosh Human Interface Guidelines, ch 1-2, pg 315-343. (Appears in the table of contents as one entry for each chapter.) 1992
Gabriel, "The rise of worse is better," pg 345-348. 1989
Brooks, The Design of Design, chapter 4, "Requirements, Sin, and Contracts", pg 349-354. 2010
This is Apple's guidebook for the look and feel of the original Mac platform. The Gabriel piece is the "famous part" of a longer talk he gave, and it's what he's most known for. Have you read Brooks's The Mythical Man-Month? This chapter is from a more recent book on software (and other) design. Brooks is a Christian, and it's interesting to see how his faith shapes his thoughts here.
Apr 23 Skepticism of technology.
Stoll, Silicon Snake Oil, chapter 2, "An amalgam of popular fictions...", pg 369-382. 1995
Carr, The Shallows, chapter 1, "HAL and me", pg 383-389. 2011
Postman, Technopoly, chapter 1, "The judgment of Thamus," pg 391-400. 1992
I'm a bit of a Luddite at heart. We've got to spend some time looking at those who refuse to get on the bandwagon of computers, the internet, digital publishing, technology, whatever. Two of these are from the nineties, so we have the opportunity to see how well they've endured the test of time.
April 30. Defining the field of computer science.
Dijkstra, "The Humble Programmer," pg 401-416. 1972
Dijkstra, "My Hopes of Computing Science," pg 417-423. (Appears in the table of contents as "The hope of computer science"... interesting change.) 1979
Knuth, "Computer programming as an art", pg 425-431. 1974
Our excuse for reading these Dijkstra and Knuth classics is the question, What is the field of computer science?