[Year 12 SofDev] algorithms, deskchecking and data types

[Steven Bird]

> Thank you, Paul. I like them too. It's the students that don't.

CS Unplugged has well-motivated problems involving a variety of
interesting algorithms:
http://csunplugged.org/activities

There's a couple of engaging books by David Harel, giving a
fascinating overview of the whole field.  The first is a slim
paperback with a picture of an exploding computer on the front, and
gives an introduction to computability (what can or cannot be
computed, or computed efficiently, and why) that would be accessible
to a secondary student.  The second is an introductory textbook on
algorithms.

Computers Ltd.: What They Really Can't Do, Oxford University Press, 2003
Algorithmics: The Spirit of Computing (3rd Edition), Addison Wesley, 2004

--
Steven Bird
http://www.csse.unimelb.edu.au/~sb/