Reductive Thinking in Undergraduate CS Courses

摘要

Reductive thinking is an important thinking pattern, one that characterizes the theory of computer science (CS), and which is relevant to many other areas of CS, such as algorithmic design. Essentially, solving a problem by reduction means transforming it into simpler problems (or problems for which the solution is already known), and constructing or deducing the solution to the original problem from the solutions to the new problems. Developing reductive thinking patterns is an important goal in any scientific discipline, and particularly in CS.