The whole area of knowledge associated with the use and study of computers and computer-based processes. It encompasses computer design and programming, and intercomputer communication, and intersects with a number of other established disciplines such as mathematics, information theory, and electronic engineering.
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Computer science, or computing science, is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and their implementation and application in computer systems. Computer science has many sub-fields; some emphasize the computation of specific results (such as computer graphics), while others (such as computational complexity theory) relate to properties of computational problems. For example, programming language theory studies approaches to describing computations, while computer programming applies specific programming languages to solve specific computational problems.
History
The history of computer science predates the invention of the modern digital computer by many years. Early researchers in what came to be called computer science, such as Kurt Gödel, Alonzo Church, and Alan Turing, were interested in the question of computability: what things can be computed by a human clerk who simply follows a list of instructions with paper and pencil, for as long as necessary, and without ingenuity or insight? Part of the motivation for this work was the desire to develop computing machines that could automate the often tedious and error-prone work of a human computer. Their key insight was to construct universal computing systems capable (in theory) of performing all possible computable tasks, and thus generalising all previous dedicated-task machines into the single notion of the universal computer. The creation of the concept of a universal computer marked the birth of modern computer science. As it became clear that computers could be used for more than just mathematical calculations, the field of computer science broadened to study computation in general. Computer science began to be established as a distinct academic discipline in the 1960s, with the creation of the first computer science departments and degree programs.
Major achievements
Despite its relatively short history as a formal academic discipline, computer science has made a number of fundamental contributions to science and society. The concept of a programming language, a tool for the precise expression of methodological information at various levels of abstraction The theory and practice of compilers for translating between programming languages Practical applications: the PC, the internet, search engines, scientific computing
Relationship with other fields
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Edsger DijkstraDespite its name, much of computer science does not involve the study of computers themselves. In fact, the renowned computer scientist Edsger Dijkstra is often quoted as saying, "Computer science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes." The design and deployment of computers and computer systems is generally considered the province of disciplines other than computer science. For example, the study of computer hardware is usually considered part of computer engineering, while the study of commercial computer systems and their deployment is often called information technology or information systems. Computer science is sometimes criticized as being insufficiently scientific, a view espoused in the statement "Science is to computer science as hydrodynamics is to plumbing" credited to Stan Kelly-Bootle and others. Computer science research has also often crossed into other disciplines, such as artificial intelligence, cognitive science, physics (see quantum computing), and linguistics.
Computer science is considered by some to have a much closer relationship with mathematics than many scientific disciplines. Early computer science was strongly influenced by the work of mathematicians such as Kurt Gödel and Alan Turing, and there continues to be a useful interchange of ideas between the two fields in areas such as mathematical logic, category theory, domain theory, and algebra.
The relationship between computer science and software engineering is a contentious issue, which is further muddied by disputes over what the term "software engineering" means, and how computer science is defined. Some people believe that software engineering is a subset of computer science. Others, taking a cue from the relationship between other engineering and science disciplines, believe that the principle focus of computer science is studying the properties of computation in general, while the principle focus of software engineering is the design of specific computations to achieve practical goals, making them different disciplines.
Fields of computer science
Computer science searches for concepts and proofs to explain and describe computational systems of interest.
Theory of computation
Automata theory Different logical structures for solving problems. Quantum computing theoryAlgorithms and data structures
Analysis of algorithms Time and space complexity of algorithms.Programming languages and compilers
Compilers Ways of translating computer programs, usually from higher level languages to lower level ones. Distributed computing Computing using multiple computing devices over a network to accomplish a common objective or task and there by reducing the latency involved in single processor contributions for any task. Reverse engineering The application of the scientific method to the understanding of arbitrary existing software Algorithm design Using ideas from algorithm theory to creatively design solutions to real tasks Computer programming The practice of using a programming language to implement algorithmsComputer architecture
Computer architecture The design, organization, optimization and verification of a computer system, mostly about CPUs and Memory subsystem (and the bus connecting them). Operating systems Systems for managing computer programs and providing the basis of a useable system.Computer graphics
Computer graphics Algorithms both for generating visual images synthetically, and for integrating or altering visual and spatial information sampled from the real world. Human computer interaction The study and design of computer interfaces that people use. Computational physics Numerical simulations of large non-analytic systems Computational chemistry Computational modelling of theoretical chemistry in order to determine chemical structures and properties Bioinformatics The use of computer science to maintain, analyse, store biological data and to assist in solving biological problems such as Protein folding, function prediction and Phylogeny. Computational neuroscience Computational modelling of real brains Cognitive Science Computational modelling of real mindsComputer science education
Some universities teach computer science as a theoretical study of computation and algorithmic reasoning. These programs often feature the theory of computation, analysis of algorithms, formal methods, concurrency theory, databases, computer graphics and systems analysis, among others. They typically also teach computer programming, but treat it as a vessel for the support of other fields of computer science rather than a central focus of high-level study.
Other colleges and universities, as well as secondary schools and vocational programs that teach computer science, emphasize the practice of advanced computer programming rather than the theory of algorithms and computation in their computer science curricula. The practical aspects of computer programming are often referred to as software engineering. Denning, Great principles in computing curricula, Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education, 2004.
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