Archive for February, 2010
What is Computing Science?
by Phil on Feb.02, 2010, under SFU
[NOTE: This article was written in the summer of 2009 for inclusion in a Computing Science Student Society newsletter. It has since been edited and the newsletter has been compiled. As of right now, it has not, however, yet seen the light of day. Here is my article, unedited…]
Congratulations! If you’re reading this, you are either a Computing Science student, interested in becoming a Computing Science student, a student in something linked to Computing Science, or associated peripherally with Computing Science somehow. Either that, or you needed some reading material for the next few minutes. Regardless, congratulations on making it this far.
However, it is amazing how many Computing Science students, specially upon entering the faculty, don’t really know what Computing Science actually is. I’d venture a guess that most people associate computer programming with Computing Science, but that is really not what Computing Science is. As a matter of fact, the computer is just a tool sometimes (not even close to always) used in the study of Computing Science.
“Computer Science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes.”
— Edsger Wybe Dijkstra
