Computer Science

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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 computers."Computer science is the study of information" Department of Computer and Information Science, Guttenberg Information Technologies"Computer science is the study of computation." Computer Science Department, College of Saint Benedict, Saint John's University"Computer Science is the study of all aspects of computer systems, from the theoretical foundations to the very practical aspects of managing large software projects." Massey University Computer science has many sub-fields; some emphasize the computation of specific results (such as computer graphics), while others relate to properties of computational problems (such as computational complexity theory). Still others focus on the challenges in implementing computations. For example, programming language theory studies approaches to describing computations, while computer programming applies specific programming languages to solve specific computational problems. A further subfield, human-computer interaction, focuses on the challenges in making computers and computations useful, usable and universally accessible to public goods.

History The history of computer science predates the invention of the modern digital computer by many centuries. Machines for calculating fixed numerical tasks, such as the abacus, have existed since antiquity. Wilhelm Schickard built the first mechanical calculator in 1623. Charles Babbage designed a difference engine in Victorian era times (between 1837 and 1901) helped by Ada Lovelace. Around 1900 the IBM corporation sold punch-card machines. However all of these machines were constrained to perform a single task, or at best, some subset of all possible tasks.

During the 1940s, as newer and more powerful computing machines were developed, the term computer came to refer to the machines rather than their human predecessors. 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. Since practical computers became available, many applications of computing have become distinct areas of study in their own right.

Many initially believed it impossible that "computers themselves could actually be a scientific field of study" (Levy 1984, p. 11), though it was in the "late fifties" (Levy 1984, p.11) that it gradually became accepted among the greater academic population. It is the now well-known IBM brand that formed part of the computer science revolution during this time. IBM or International Business Machine as the company is officially termed released the IBM 704 and later the IBM 709 computers which were widely used during the exploration period of such devices. "Still, working with the IBM was frustrating...if you had misplaced as much as one letter in one instruction, the program would crash, and you would have to start the whole process over again" (Levy 1984, p.13). Obviously, during the period of the late 1950s the computer science discipline was very much in its developmental stages and such issues were commonplace.

Time has seen significant improvements in the usability and effectiveness of computer science technology. Modern society has seen a significant shift from computers being used solely by experts or professionals to more a more widespread user base. Slowly computers became accepted as being the norm within everyday life, though this was not until the 1990s. During this time data entry was a primary component of the use of computers, many preferring to streamline their business practices through the use of a computer. This also gave the additional benefit of removing the need of large amounts of documentation and file records which consumed much needed physical space within offices.

Major achievements during World War II for communication they thought to be secret. The large-scale decryption of Enigma traffic at Bletchley Park was an important factor that contributed to Allied victory in WWII.

Despite its relatively short history as a formal academic discipline, computer science has made a number of fundamental contributions to science and society. These include:

Applications within computer science

A formal definition of computation and computability, and proof that there are computationally halting problem and Intractable#Intractability problems.
The concept of a programming language, a tool for the precise expression of methodological information at various levels of abstraction{{cite book|

| last=Abelson| first=H.| authorlink=Hal Abelson| coauthors=G.J. Sussman with J.Sussman| year=1996| title=Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs| edition=2nd Ed.| publisher=MIT Press| id=ISBN 0-262-01153-0| quote=The computer revolution is a revolution in the way we think and in the way we express what we think. The essence of this change is the emergence of what might best be called procedural epistemology — the study of the structure of knowledge from an imperative point of view, as opposed to the more declarative point of view taken by classical mathematical subjects.-->

Applications outside of computing

Sparked the Digital Revolution which led to the current Information Age
In cryptography, Cryptanalysis of the Enigma was an important factor contributing to the Allied victory in World War II.David Kahn, The Codebreakers, 1967, ISBN 0-684-83130-9.
Scientific computing enabled advanced study of the mind and mapping the human genome was possible with Human Genome Project. Distributed computing projects like Folding@home explore protein folding.

Relationship with other fields Computer science is frequently derided by the sentence "Any field which has to have 'science' in its name isn't one." This was placed in print by physicist Richard Feynman in his Lectures on Computation (1996) after his passing. He in no way meant to diminish the usefulness of the field.

Despite its name, a significant amount of computer science does not involve the study of computers themselves. Because of this several alternative names have been proposed. Danish scientist Peter Naur suggested the term datalogy, to reflect the fact that the scientific discipline revolves around data and data treatment, while not necessarily involving computers. The first scientific institution applying the datalogy term was DIKU, the Department of Datalogy at the University of Copenhagen, founded in 1969, with Peter Naur being the first professor in datalogy. The term is used mainly in the Scandinavian countries. Also, in the early days of computing, a number of terms for the practitioners of the field of computing were suggested in the Communications of the ACM—turingineer, turologist, flow-charts-man, applied meta-mathematician, and applied epistemologist.Communications of the ACM 1(4):p.6 Three months later in the same journal, comptologist was suggested, followed next year by hypologist.Communications of the ACM 2(1):p.4 Recently the term computics has been suggested.IEEE Computer 28(12):p.136 Infomatik was a term used in Europe with more frequency.

In fact, the renowned computer scientist Edsger W. 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-BootleComputer Language, Oct 1990 and others. However, there has been much cross-fertilization of ideas between the various computer-related disciplines. 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 Debates within software engineering over what the term "software engineering" means, and how computer science is defined. David Parnas, taking a cue from the relationship between other engineering and science disciplines, has claimed that the principal focus of computer science is studying the properties of computation in general, while the principal focus of software engineering is the design of specific computations to achieve practical goals, making the two separate but complementary disciplines.

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