Computer Science

What is Computer Science (in one sentence)?

A call went out on a mailing list at work today for contributions from those working in Computer Science to define the term. We were asked:

In one short sentence - what is your personal definition of Computer Science?

The questioner was trying to get at whether Computer Science is really a science at all, or is it engineering? Or is it applied mathematics, or even art?

Anyway, firing off a one sentence (almost) reply was quite easy, as I've been giving this very question some thought over the last few months. My response was:

To me, Computer Science is the science of problem solving.

I wasn't quite able to keep it to one short sentence, and qualified this a little too:

I think it's actually better termed Computational Science, since it's the science of computation (as a method of problem solving) rather than the science of beige boxes with circuit boards inside!

I'm sure the answers to this will vary greatly, and I'll be interested to read what others thought. Interesting question.

Comments

Hi Peter, in Italy there is

Submitted by Matteo De Felice on Mon, 13/12/2010 - 10:24.

Hi Peter, in Italy there is no "Computer Science" but instead it's called "Informatica", sometimes translated Informatics outside Italy. The term is very clear: it is the science of manage information (in fact, "Informatica" is the contraction of "Informazione Automatica", which means "automatic information"). If you say informatics you put the focus on "information", "computer science" instead puts the focus on "computation". I've read some interesting articles on ACM magazines (sorry I don't have links at this moment) and I think that it's hard to give a short and meaningful definition of computer science, maybe for two reasons: 1. It's too early to define it 2. It's not really a science but a sort of meta-science including engineering (software!) and mathematics (algorithms). However, I think it's a very important questions.

Thanks Matteo - interesting

Submitted by Pete Lewis on Mon, 13/12/2010 - 10:38.

Thanks Matteo - interesting thoughts. Yeah, Informatics seems to be growing more common in English speaking universities too. I was never too comfortable with that as an overarching term to include Computer Science, since it appeared to discount the study of processes, which I think are very integral to Computer Science, even without information. But, perhaps I just need a broader interpretation of "information"... i.e. it's not only data.

That's interesting,

Submitted by Matteo De Felice on Mon, 13/12/2010 - 10:58.

That's interesting, "information is not only data". Maybe we can define CS as "the science of the investigation and implementation of information processes".

My definition: Computer

Submitted by peter on Wed, 15/12/2010 - 08:59.

My definition: Computer Science is the science of delegation. We seek to delegate tasks to machines - initially tasks involving numerical processing, then later tasks involving the processing of information, then tasks involving processing of anything able to be represented digitally (such as images, sound, and knowledge), and now (via distributed computing) tasks involving co-ordination and joint actions. Even Artificial Intelligence is just the delegation of delegation itself.

Artificial Intelligence is

Submitted by Pete Lewis on Wed, 15/12/2010 - 09:29.

Artificial Intelligence is just the delegation of delegation itself.

I like that!

Pete My new university is the

Submitted by DiodePorridge51b on Sat, 18/12/2010 - 12:24.

Pete

My new university is the first one to open a Computer Science department in Turkey - in 2001 I believe. This is because, in Turkey, Computer Engineering is the respectable discipline. Anything else probably fits into the Spreadsheets and Web Development category, at least in the estimation of the employer on the street. Well, our university now opened a computer engineering department and the existential consequences of this for my own CS department are not slight.

I believe that your definition comes close to the definition used in my new department. Indeed, the first year course, which covers a variety of technologies and non-computer skills, is called "how to solve it" (using scheme/racket).

I would be wary of making the definition of CS as all-encompassing as "information processing" (which one might argue happens in nearly all life-forms) or "delegation" (which might also be a managerial pursuit, or indeed, might cover engineering in general when one delegates to a machine, tool or other artifact). Indeed, we have Computer Engineering, Software Engineering, Informatics, Information Technology, and so forth to cover as many angles as we can.

Sure, a CS department has to diversify but it would seem to me that it's core competence is rather narrow - the science of computation - where computation is maybe using rules to follow symbolic instructions to produce symbolic results.

Just my thoughts.

Damien