Was ist Informatik? Jeannette Wing bringt es ganz hervorragend auf den Punkt:
Computational thinking is thinking recursively. It is parallel processing. It is interpreting code as data and data as code. It is type checking as the generalization of dimensional analysis. It is recognizing both the virtues and the dangers of aliasing, or giving someone or something more than one name. It is recognizing both the cost and power of indirect addressing and procedure call. It is judging a program not just for correctness and efficiency but for aesthetics, and a system’s design for simplicity and elegance.
Dem ist eigentlich nichts mehr hinzuzufügen - ausser vielleicht einem deutschen Begriff. Einen Perfekten Begriff habe ich noch nicht gefunden, aber einen Vorschlag: Informatisches Denken.