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“Computer science is not about computers”

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Re: “Computer science is not about computers”

#61

Post by pmontra »

mxscho wrote: post #29

In Europe, "Computer Science" is translated with a word that is a mix of "information" and "mathematics". University course names are: > [...] informatique (French), Informatik (German), informatica (Italian, Dutch), informática (Spanish, Portuguese), informatika (Slavic languages and Hungarian) or pliroforiki (πληροφορική, which means informatics) in Greek. Similar words have also been adopted in the UK (as in the S…

The original name of the university course in Italy was Scienze dell'Informazione, Information Sciences. I remember that my relatives were surprised and they were asking me if I was really about to study journalism (news "informano" / inform people in Italian.) I had to explain that it was about computers. Informatics, not journalism.

Re: “Computer science is not about computers”

#62

Post by adreamingsoul »

I find this article to be inspiring.

I’m envious of those who have had the opportunity to study computer science and earn a recognised degree for that investment.

I’m self educated and continuously study computer science. It is the one specific subject that I long to study full-time around similar thinking individuals.

I’m fortunate to have had a successful career as a software engineer, but that’s just not enough for me. I aspire to apply my mind for reasons other then a salary.

Re: “Computer science is not about computers”

#63

Post by chiffre »

human wrote: post #35

English is not my primary language so correct me if I’m wrong. But didn’t the word "computer" have another meaning before the physical computer machine? Otherwise I would agree it should be renamed to information science.

It referred to person who does computations by hand and/or abacus.

Re: “Computer science is not about computers”

#65

Post by Twisol »

dragontamer wrote: post #33

Computer science is the mathematics behind counting. You count the number of "swap" operations in insertion sort, quicksort, or merge sort. You count the number of "memory" operations. You count the number of bytes used. When precise counts are difficult, you learn big-O notation to estimate how counts change as variable grow. Etc. etc. etc.

I would consider what you described to be "algorithms" (or "complexity theory"), a particular sub-area of computer science. There are quite a few other areas of CS.

The ACM organizes a number of SIGs (Special Interest Groups), each with their own (often several) conferences [1]. Some of the more well-known SIGs include SIGPLAN (Programming Languages), SIGGRAPH (Computer Graphics), and SIGLOG (Logic and Computation). What you described probably falls best under SIGACT (Algorithms and Computation Theory).

> the mathematics behind counting.

Traditionally, this is combinatorics, not any particular part of computer science. Complexity theory concerns itself with specifically counting the amount of resources used by a formal process.

[1] https://www.acm.org/special-interest-groups/alphabetical-lis...

Re: “Computer science is not about computers”

#66

Post by cable2600 »

pmontra wrote: post #61
mxscho wrote: post #29

In Europe, "Computer Science" is translated with a word that is a mix of "information" and "mathematics". University course names are: > [...] informatique (French), Informatik (German), informatica (Italian, Dutch), informática (Spanish, Portuguese), informatika (Slavic languages and Hungarian) or pliroforiki (πληροφορική, which means informatics) in Greek. Similar words have also been adopted in the UK (as in the S…

The original name of the university course in Italy was Scienze dell'Informazione, Information Sciences. I remember that my relatives were surprised and they were asking me if I was really about to study journalism (news "informano" / inform people in Italian.) I had to explain that it was about computers. Informatics, not journalism.

It used to be called Data Processing. I guess that confused people? Information Services was used for people who didn't know what data was. Before the GUI it was a lot harder.

Re: “Computer science is not about computers”

#67

Post by Twisol »

nitwit005 wrote: post #64

You can flip this around though. If the math and theory wasn't relevant to real world computers, we wouldn't consider it part of computer science. It's just be some abstract mathematics.

Yes, but the definition of "computer" in this context is much more expansive than the hunks of silicon we're using to converse right now. The Turing machine was meant to capture the basic set of actions any human could in principle perform, made amenable for formal inquiry and algorithmic specification.

In particular, the computer programs we typically develop are designed to automate some process that a human would have otherwise done. We can study those processes -- and spaces of such processes -- independently of the executive agent that ultimately performs those processes.

Re: “Computer science is not about computers”

#68

Post by oaiey »

mxscho wrote: post #29

In Europe, "Computer Science" is translated with a word that is a mix of "information" and "mathematics". University course names are: > [...] informatique (French), Informatik (German), informatica (Italian, Dutch), informática (Spanish, Portuguese), informatika (Slavic languages and Hungarian) or pliroforiki (πληροφορική, which means informatics) in Greek. Similar words have also been adopted in the UK (as in the S…

... and nevertheless it takes a lot of time to realize that it is not about computers.

But I agree, the European phrases are more honest to the content.

Re: “Computer science is not about computers”

#69

Post by enriquto »

I hate this quotation and find it not only false but sad. It feels as if a physicist would say "physics is not about mass, energy and matter, it is about ODE and PDE."

And yes, astronomy is pretty much about looking at the shadows of sticks under the sun; and this includes more complex "sticks" like telescopes.

Re: “Computer science is not about computers”

#70

Post by jmartinpetersen »

Seeing as the Danish "CS" degree deliberately[1] wasn't named "Computer Science", but "Datalogi"[2] (which translates rather directly to "Datalogy"), and since it happened in the sixties, I somehow assumed this article would end up mentioning Peter Naur in some way.

[1]: http://www.naur.com/comp/c4-3.html [2]: http://www.naur.com/comp/c4-4.html

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