Robert Sedgewick is the 2018 recipient of the ACM Outstanding Educator Award. Sedgewick completed his Ph.D. in 1975 under the supervision of Donald Knuth at Stanford.
In particular, although the first three volumes of Knuth’s The Art of Computer Programming were full of fascinating information, most students need preparation in mathematics and computer science to appreciate it.
a calculus for studying discrete structures of all kinds emerged, with applicability to statistical physics, chemistry, genomics, and many other fields, not just computer science.
Analytic combinatorics provides a mathematical basis for what I have lately been calling “algorithm science.” The approach goes back to Turing and von Neumann, was popularized by Knuth, and is also the basis for my Algorithms books. The idea is to apply the scientific method to the study of computer programs. We develop mathematical models for the essential characteristics of algorithms; use them to develop hypotheses about program performance; validate the hypotheses with experimental studies using actual implementations and realistic inputs; and iterate the process to improve the algorithms and implementations, to the point that practitioners can use them with confidence.
With online lectures, anyone interested in learning the material can benefit from the very best lecture content available.
Teaching students to code will help them understand logical thinking and foster creativity.
In summary, in the last millennium, education was based on reading, writing, and arithmetic. Perhaps we should now switch to reading, writing, and computing. Coding includes arithmetic and a whole lot more.
Coding literacy is becoming a necessity in health care, social assistance, business services, construction, entertainment, manufacturing, and even politics.