What is Computer Science?
From IAE-Pedia
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[edit] Introduction
The history of mechanical aids to computation is quite long. The abacus was (still is) a wonderful aid to calculation. A nice summary of the history of calculators is available in the Wikipedia. Mechanical, electromechanical, and then electronic computers are natural extensions of calculators.
A computer can automatically, rapidly, and with great accuracy follow a step by step set of instructions specifying a sequence of calculations and other manipulations of numerical and alphabetic characters. While initially conceived of mainly as an automated calculator, it soon became evident that a computer could be used to solve or help solve wide range of problems in many different disciplines. For example, a computer can store the types of material that are stored in a library, and can aid in the processing and retrieval of such digitized materials.
This wide range of uses and potential uses of computers led to the development of programs of study, and then degree programs in the field of computer science. At the time this was occurring, relatively few people thought about whether computer science is a science, or whether an academic department and a field of research should be built around a machine.
Perhaps part of the issue is just the choice of a name for the discipline or disciplines such departments focused on. If the new department was mainly business oriented, it might have be called a Department of Business Data Processing. If the new department was mainly engineering oriented, it might have been called the Department of Computer Engineering. If formed in under the bailiwick of liberal arts, it might have been called the Department of Computer Science or the Department of Computer and Information Science.
[edit] Computer Science
The business-oriented, engineering-oriented, and liberal arts-oriented types of departments approached the disciple from different points of view. A business-oriented computer science discipline of study merged the computer and its capabilities into the overall discipline of business. Computers can be use d to represent and to solve or help solve a wide range of business problems. The emphasis was on the representation and solution of business problems. Computers and computer science were tools that aided in this process.
This approach to computers is now common throughout all academic disciplines. For example, consider computers and music or computers and the graphic arts. Both music and the graphic arts existed as major disciplines in their own rights long before electronic digital computers came on the scene. Both continue as major disciplines of study—but both have been influenced by computers. We also see this in each of the sciences ad in mathematics. We now have major subdivisions of each of these disciplines that are called "Computational" as in Computational Physics or Computational Mathematics.
"Computational" has gained additional credibility through the Computational Thinking work of Jennette Wing and others. Students in each discipline of study are faced by the challenge of deciding what and how much to learn about computers.
Computer engineering focuses on the theory and practice of designing and building computer hardware components and entire computer systems. This discipline has been very successful and has brought us a steady stream of major improvements in the cost effectiveness and reliability of computer systems.
Computer and Information Science Departments have prospered. A discipline was developed that was far more than computer programming and solving application problems in various other disciplines.
[edit] SomeDefinitions
Here is a short definition from a 1985 article written by Peter J. Denning:
Denning, Peter J. (September 1985). What is Computer Science. American Scientist 73 No. 1 (Jan-Feb 1985). Retrieved 2/16/08: ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19900067426_1990067426.pdf
- Computer Science is the body of knowledge dealing with the design, analysis, implementation, efficiency, and application of processes that transform information. The fundamental question underlying all of computer science is, “What can be automated?” This discipline was born in the mid-1940s with the invention of the stored-program electronic computer and has grown rapidly ever since.
The key issues is, what can be automated. We are used to the idea of automating physical activities. Thus, we had automated factory equipment long before we had electronic digital computers. One way to think about computers is in terms of how they aid in the automation of physical activities and how they aid in the automation of mental activities. Nowadays, when we talk about factory automation, we generally mean use of computerized equipment, including a wide range of robots. That role of computers in automation is well established and is a clear extension of factory automation that came before the existence of electronic digital computers.
The automation of mental activities is, in some sense new. Sure, we had aids to mental activities. A math table is a example. But, it was a person and the table working together that accomplished the desired task.
Now, we are automating mental tasks that are beyond what a human brain can do, and in many cases the computer functions without human intervention.
[edit] Some Other Definitions
Here are a few of the definitions produced from a Google search on define: computer science.
- Organizations that conduct research in the area of science that addresses the study of data and information storage and processing systems including hardware, software, basic design principles, user requirements analysis and related economic and policy issues. nccs2.urban.org/ntee-cc/u.htm
- The study of computers, including both hardware and software design. Computer science is composed of many broad disciplines, including artificial intelligence and software engineering. Most universities now offer bachelor, master, and doctorate degrees in computer science. www.faxswitch.com/Definitions/telecom_dictionary_c.html
- Computer science, or computing science, is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and their implementation and application in computer systems. ... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer science
[edit] Is Computer Science Science?
Over the years, people have argued whether Computer Science deserves to be called a science. The following article by Peter J. Denning addresses this issue:: Denning, Peter J. (April 2005. Is Computer science Science?. Communications of the ACM. Retrieved 2/16/08: www.cs.gmu.edu/cne/pjd/PUBS/CACMcols/cacmApr05.pdf.
This article discusses various aspects of the disicpline of computre science and certainly helps to give a definition of the field. The article is written in the form of an interview (in essence, the author interviewing himself). Here is the beginning of he article:
What is your profession?
- Computer science.
Oh? Is that a science?
- Sure, it is the science of information processes and their interactions with the world.
I’ll accept that what you do is technology; but not science. Science deals with fundamental laws of nature. Computers are man made. Their principles come from other fields such as physics and electronics engineering.
- Hold on. There are many natural information processes. Computers are tools to implement, study, and predict them. In the U.S. alone, nearly 200 academic departments recognize this; some have been granting CS degrees for 40 years.
…
Has computer science already made all the big discoveries it’s going to? Is incremental progress all that remains? Has computer science bubbled up at the end of the historical era of science?
- I think not. Horgan argues that the number of scientific fields is limited and each one is slowly being exhausted. But computer science is going a different way. It is constantly forming relationships with other fields; each one opens up a new field.
[edit] What is Artificial Intelligence
The following references are suitable for use with middle school students and were provided by Dr. Art Farley, an AI researcher in the Department of Computer and Information Science, University of Oregon 3/6/08.
Overview for students:
http://library.thinkquest.org/2705/
Interesting Q&A style by McCarthy, one of AI "fathers":
http://www-formal.stanford.edu/jmc/whatisai/whatisai.html
Wikipedia, of course, to follow links, etc:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_intelligence
AAAI Topics page for references:
http://www.aaai.org/AITopics/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/AITopics/HomePage
[edit] References
CCC Blog (11/12/08). The Computing Community Consortium Blog. Accessed 11/17/008: http://www.cccblog.org/2008/11/12/computer-science-outside-the-box/. Quoting from the Blog:
The workshop vastly exceeded my expectations – 8 hours of brainstorming about strategies and best practices, in four areas:
- “Go Outside Your Box” – what strategies can we adopt to increase collaboration across subfields and with other fields?
- “The World Needs Us” – how to contribute to the solution of societal “Grand Challenge” problems while simultaneously driving computing research forward.
- “Breaking the Cycle” – can we change the reward structure to decrease incrementalism, encouraging long-range thinking?
- “Serving the Community” – how can we further increase the culture of service to the research community and to the nation?
Denning, Peter J. ( 1999). Computer Science: The Discipline. Retrieved 2/16/08: cs.gmu.edu/cne/pjd/PUBS/cs99.pdf.
This article was written for the 2000 Edition of the Encyclopedia of Computer Science. Quoting from the article:
- The computing profession is the people and institutions that have been created to take care of other people's concerns in information processing and coordination through worldwide communication systems. The profession contains various specialties such as computer science, computer engineering, software engineering, information systems, domain-specific applications, and computer systems. The discipline of computer science is the body of knowledge and practices used by computing professionals in their work. This article, with many cross-references to other articles in this encyclopedia, discusses these aspects of the profession and the relations among them.
- …
- The body of knowledge of computing is frequently described as the systematic study of algorithmic processes that describe and transform information: their theory, analysis, design, efficiency, implementation, and application. The fundamental question underlying all of computing is, What can be (efficiently) automated?
- This common characterization is too austere. It only hints at the full richness of the discipline. It does not call attention to the connections between computing knowledge and the concerns of people to whom this knowledge contributes, notably the universal concerns for reliability, dependability, robustness, integrity, security, and modifiability of computer systems. It hides the social and historical context of the field and the values of the people who practice in it.
