CONJURING WITH COMPUTATION

The team behind Computer Science for Fun (CS4FN), brings you Conjuring with Computation: A Manual of Magic and Computing for Beginners. Develop your skills as a magician while also learning the basics of computer science by exploring its links to magic. Each chapter explains how to do a simple magic trick, step-by-step, then uses the trick to introduce linked fundamental ideas in computer science in a fun way. By reading the book you will learn to do self-working tricks, be able to hold magic shows, create your own versions of tricks, and with creativity even invent your own. We cover: The book includes profiles of computer scientists, alongside magicians with links to technology, through history. Master conjuring and thinking computationally. Contents: Chapter Summaries Introduction Algorithmic Thinking Evaluation and Logical Thinking I Making It Work for People Decomposition and Abstraction Procedures and Procedural Abstraction Building Bigger Abstraction and Data Representation Human–Computer Interaction Evaluation and Logical Thinking II More on Computational Thinking Cyber Security, Privacy and Society Advanced Technology Further Reading Acknowledgements Index of Computing Terms Index of Tricks, Illusions and Conjuring Techniques Index of People Readership: General public: Those interested in learning how to do magic tricks and lay computing/mathematics/science including those visiting science and technology/computing museums. Those learning computer science subjects (at school or university) with an interest in magic. Paul Curzon is a Professor of Computer Science at Queen Mary University of London, teaching programming and interaction design. He was awarded the 2020 IEEE Taylor L Booth Education Award 'for outstanding contributions to the rebirth of Computer Science as a school subject.' as a result of his projects that promote the fun side of computer science and support teachers. Both have a global following. He was introduced to magic by McOwan during the cs4fn project. He is a National Teaching Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. He also won the EPSRC's 'New Computer Science Writer of the Year' Award and has won multiple awards for excellence in teaching and learning. His research interests include computer science education, interaction design and healthcare. He gained a first class honours degree and PhD in Computer Science from Christ's College, Cambridge University. His research on human error was presented at the prestigious Royal Society summer exhibition. He was a founding member of the UK Computing at Schools group and is on the academic board of the National Centre for Computing Education.Peter W McOwan, who died in 2019, was Vice Principal for Public Engagement and Student Enterprise at Queen Mary University of London and Professor of Computer Science. He gained degrees in mathematical physics, psychology and medical physics, and a PhD in physics. Magic was an interest thoughout his life and he made it a core part of the cs4fn and Teaching London Computing projects he created with Curzon. He was awarded the IET Mountbatten Medal in 2011 for his work promoting IT and electronics. He also promoted maths and science, including working with the UK Space Agency and children's author Lucy Hawking on school resources to support Tim Peake's trip to the International Space Agency and the ExoMars rover mission. His research covered vision, cognitive science and biologically inspired computing which he presented at the prestigious Royal Society summer exhibition four times. His robots appeared in TV documentaries, including the Royal Institution Christmas lectures. He gave evidence on the public perception of AI to the UK House of Lords select committee on artificial intelligence. He was a National Teaching Fellow by the Higher Education Academy and was a founding member of the Computing at Schools group.Curzon and McOwan cowrote the World Scientific book, The Power of Computational Thinking.