Computer Science vs Computer Engineering

<p>What is the difference between Computer Science and Computer Engineering ?</p>

<p>Which one of the above requires Physics, Chem and math to be studied with it.</p>

<p>Can someone help me as well with this question. Can a Computer Engineering major get a Software Engineer job?</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/engineering-majors/1005392-cpe-ee-cs.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/engineering-majors/1005392-cpe-ee-cs.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>PS: Search button is there for you. Also scroll down the page, you see “Similar threads”?</p>

<p>Computer Engineering is about the design and low-level use of computers. It ranges all the way down to low-level chip design (which is shared with EEs) to system software (which is shared with CSs) and has computer architecture and embedded systems pretty much to itself.
“VLSI”, which stands for the less-than-informative “Very Large System Integration” is about the low-level design of a microprocessor (people who do this are generally called “VLSI designers” or just “designers”). Above that in abstraction is computer architecture, which is about the high-level design of a processor. Think about how a car design must be done. Some grioup designs the engine, some other group the breaks, etc. and some group designs the car-as-a-whole. The computer architect is similar to the car designer.</p>

<p>Next is embedded systems design. That’s also a wide area ranging from board design (which has a fair bit of EE stuff going on) to programming (which has a fair bit of CS stuff). But in general the combination of hardware and software design is the realm of the computer engineer. There can be lots of flavors of embedded design and many schools offer classes based on application area. So a digital signal processing lab class (mostly for sound/image/sensor processing in an embedded environment) or an embedded control systems class (controllers for engines, etc.) might be offered. Robotics is also common. This is a huge area and can be taught in lots of ways.</p>

<p>Next is systems software. OS, compilers and the like are the major focus, but things like locks and threading become important for a CE to know. In general <em>someone</em> on an OS team needs to know something about computer architecture and a LOT of people do on a compiler team. Computer vision, networking, and other things may fall into this category…</p>

<p>CS is more about the software. (Can you tell I’m a CE?)</p>

<p>Hobit2, do you mind to make a reply on the other thread as well?
I appreciate your insight on this. I remembered you made a similar reply a few months ago.</p>

<p>It almost always depends on the school you go to. I started out in CE but it was only 3 classes more than an EE degree (I wanted more CE and CS classes). I’m a CS major now but I still take CE or EE classes. At my school CE requires more Physics and Math. I switched to CS for the following reasons:</p>

<p>1) I live in fargo and CS majors seem to get jobs more, not sure if its the same everywhere else but it seems like it when I go and do some quick job searches. (Microsoft is huge in Fargo so that’s probably why also.)</p>

<p>2) The Department of Labor Statistics says EE and Computer hardware Engineers is going to be decreasing quite a bit compared to Software engineer jobs, not to say that CE and EE guys can’t do those jobs though, and also I’m not saying these statistics are right but if you have a better source please tell me haha.</p>

<p>3) CE and EE guys seem to need more experience straight out of college where as CS guys don’t (where I live). The pay for CE guys are higher (not that much more) but jobs are fewer (where I live). </p>

<p>To sum it up though (just to prove I’m not against either cause I love both) I would stick with CE major if it had more CS classes in its curriculum at my school.</p>

<p>Nice description Hobit.</p>

<p>Nice description too, KingCom.</p>

<p>CE is more hardware-ish and CS is more software-ish. However, CS can also be a lot more theoretical and algorithm based than CE. You’ll have to take the same physics, chem, and math classes in both majors. CS might have more math if you choose to go a theoretical route.</p>