What is CS--the publicity purpose: "Definitions" from CS course & department websites, [bracketed items are my own commentary/questions] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Citations are to items on the "What Is CS?" webpage at http://www.cse.buffalo.edu/~rapaport/584/whatiscs.html ======================================================================== ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. Jacob 1999: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CS = the science of how to calculate = the science of processing information by computers [What does he mean by: science? information? processing information? computer? ] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2. Eric Roberts (Stanford) http://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~eroberts/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CS = science of solving problems with aid of a computer where [presumably]: "science" is opposed to "hacking", because based on *theories* of algorithms, data structures, complexity. [How is "solving problems" related to "calculating" (see Jacob 1999)?] [How does the computer "aid" in solving problems?] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3. Tracy Anne Hammond (Texas A&M) http://www.cse.tamu.edu/people/faculty/hammond ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CS is *not* the study of computers [just as chemistry is not the study of test tubes, astronomy is not the study of telescopes * cf. Dijkstra at: http://thinkexist.com/quotation/computer_science_is_no_more_about_computers_than/334131.html biology is not the study of microscopes * cf.: http://www.cse.buffalo.edu/~rapaport/584/whatiscs.html#microscopy ] Rather, CS = study of algorithms: formal & mathematical properties hardware implementations linguistic realizations applications [similarly: astronomy is the science of what you see (do) with telescopes CS = the science of what you do with computers] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 4. Boston University Department of Computer Science (2003) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CS = systematic study of processes (algorithms) for manipulating information; What computational processes can be efficiently automated and implemented? [that's a paraphrase; you should read the whole thing] [are there other processes that can be efficiently automated or implemented?] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 5. Exercise for the reader: What do UB's websites say? ------------------------------------------------------------------------