Based on a thorough literature review and on personal expertise in different areas of computer science (education) fields, we reflect and debate on computational thinking from different perspectives. One is that of an Austrian teacher who is confronted with a curriculum for a new subject called ‘Basic Digital Education’, with computational thinking as an explicit part of it. The other view is that from a reflective software engineer with a holistic perspective on computational thinking and concrete ideas about its limitations. The debate concludes with an agreement on computational thinking as a cultural technique and a mutual approach to a refined working definition.