Conjuring with Computation

Conjuring with ComputationThe 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

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:

Self-working card tricksMagical jigsaws, boxes and other objectsFalse shuffles and cutsFalse choicesMagic with books and picturesMentalism, clairvoyance and tricks with ghostsMagic built on technologyFind out your friends' superpowers!

You will also learn how computation underpins conjuring, answering questions like:

What is computation?Why are the skills of a computational thinker, such as decomposition, abstraction and generalisation, so important?Why is data represented in different ways?How is easy-to-use software created?How does maths underpin programming?What are the basics of cyber security and privacy?Why must we all understand how computing technology affects society?

The book includes profiles of computer scientists, alongside magicians with links to technology, through history.

Master conjuring and thinking computationally.