Mathematics & Computer Science
What is Computer Science?
CS is:
- technical: hardware and software engineering
- theoretical: a mathematical science
- empirical: an experimental science
- practical: applications to every other field and business
- creative: ever seeking better ideas
- exploration: constantly changing
 “Computer Science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes.”
- E. W. Dijkstra
Scientists of any kind pose questions, gather evidence, and draw conclusions. Most scientists use tools of various kinds to gather evidence, and so they need to understand how to use those tools. Computer systems are now so complicated that we cannot always predict their behavior. Computer scientists experiment with computer hardware and software both in the laboratory and in the real world.
CS is not
- fixing computers
- installing software
- using commercial software packages
- pure programming
- sitting alone in a cubicle all day long
“Although it is true that programmers do (mostly) programming,
computer scientists deal with computing, using programming as a tool with which to explore and develop ideas.”
-- John Impagliazzo & Paul Nagin
The Beauty of Programming by Linus Torvalds (creator of Linux)
http://mainline.brynmawr.edu/CS/WhyCS/LinusEssay.html
|
Academic
Departments
