<p>Hey guys,</p>
<p>I'm thinking of majoring in computer science. When I tell people, they often ask if that's engineering. Now computer science and computer engineering are different things, but I tell people CS is a part of engineering. Is that right to do so? Some colleges list computer science in the college of arts & sciences (like Yale), whereas others list it under their school of engineering & applied sciences. How do you view computer science?</p>
<p>No, unless you generalize engineering to mean designing or creating/building. I liken it more to an interdisciplinary science, but the theoretical side often tends to be downplayed in comparison to the applied side. Better yet, consider it an art form. And the fact that there are so many multiple perspectives on it demonstrate how unique CS is.</p>
<p>I view CS as a part of engineering. CS is an engineering specialty with a focus on software.</p>
<p>I consider CS engineering. CompE is more the hardware and CS is more of the software; two sides of the same coin… you can’t have one without the other.</p>
<p>Being as though my path to CS was through the Math program, I look at CS as more of a science.</p>
<p>Computer science is science. Computer engineering is engineering. It is as simple as that.</p>
<p>alchemist007, what do you define as science and what do you define as engineering?</p>
<p>"Computer science is science. Computer engineering is engineering. It is as simple as that. "</p>
<p>Except that computer science can be divided into theoretical and practical areas.</p>
<p>You can study systems (i.e, engineering operating systems, network protocols, etc) or theory (a mathematical science), or anywhere within the giant gray area between the two.</p>
<p>But computer engineering is pretty straight up engineering…</p>
<p>Computer Science programs typically provide both the science/theory side and the practical/engineering side in some mix. This degree provides a lot of flexibility for the student that can go into research, engineering, development or IT.</p>
<p>Is it purely engineering? No (or at least I hope not). Is it purely science? I haven’t seen a program that is purely science. Is it useful? Yes. I still see lots of job postings for CS majors.</p>
<p>CS is a child class of engineering.</p>
<p>CS is NOT a science, its a field of math.
Many cs PROGRAMS however teach engineering skills like projects, design, etc.</p>
<p>CS is def engineering. I’m not sure why people are consider it a science. Engineering is all about designing practical applications and that is a lot of what CS majors do. CS majors are constantly designing programs and applications.</p>
<p>The nature of computer science is not engineering in my opinion, although I personally think computer science should be include in engineering school. Many schools don’t agree with that. </p>
<p>Computer science is not software engineering. Software engineering is just part of what modern computer science curriculum has. Computer science is the study of electronic computation. Like chemistry, it is the study of matters and their changes. You get the idea although the words I use are not very good. Binary, data structure, alorgthum, set theory, graph theory, these are not engineering. They are branches of study from various fields, like math and physics. </p>
<p>By standard, computer science is a science. But in practice, computer science is an engineering discipline. It is therefore, a cross-discipline.</p>
<p>Today computer science, like physics, has two groups: practical and theoretical in my opinion. A computer scientist concerns about the study of computer science. They could be an engineer too.</p>
<p>Computer engineering is not the engineering of computer science. Computer engineering is engineering of software and hardware at the level of computer (computation).</p>
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What the h*** makes you say that? Obviously not everything is named properly.</p>
<p>I suppose you’ll start trying to convince me that political science is science. ;)</p>
<p>You can pose a similar question: Is industrial engineering engineering?</p>
<p>“CS is a child class of engineering.”</p>
<p>hehe, nice.</p>
<p>I would also agree with the majority that CS can be theoretical and practical</p>
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<p>I don’t see why it isn’t. It’s called social science. Science can be divided into two groups: study of natural phenomenon, and #2 humanity and social science.</p>
<p>Computer science falls into the first group, however.</p>