<p>Hi everyone. I am a freshman in computer science and I enjoy my major (so far) but I really hate the name "computer science." Like, every time I tell someone I'm a CS major, they're like, "My internet isn't working?" or "I have a virus, can you help?" And I respond, "That's not what we study. At all." And they're dumbfounded. Another reason the term aggravates me is that computer science (as you may know) isn't about computers, it's about computation. CS can be studied with out the use of a computer - we're doing it right now in my discrete math class. And it's not really a science in the literal sense either. What are your thoughts? Anyone else agree?</p>
<p>I though the major revolved around computers? You can’t blame people for assuming.
The term “computer science” doesn’t quiet roll off my tongue now that I think of it.</p>
<p>I find that in practice, programming and computer problems are really not that different.
- 90% of your time you spend frustrated because your program doesn’t work.
- Most of the correct answers can be found with Google.</p>
<p>Psh. That’s when you say “That’s not what I study, but I am proficient in trouble shooting. Maybe for a small fee I would be able to check out your problem in a more specific way”</p>
<p>It’s analogous to when people ask mechanical engineers to fix their cars. You could always take one of those online cert programs for various help desk tasks and whatnot if you want to be able to help your friends :-P</p>
<p>Yes it’s a crappy name and should be abolished. I believe it stuck sometime around the 40s or 50s when mathematicians or early computer scientists thought that they were doing some sort of a science (of the computer). Well, back then it was primarily mathematical and there weren’t “software developers” as they are now.</p>
<p>Some have adapted the term “informatics”, which is more appropriate (because CS is really about information handling and the theory of information handling). CS is not technology nor science, because it uses the former and lends/can lend from the second. “Informatics” also doesn’t make any distinction between different “kinds” of informatics (because we have software engineering, computer science, information technology as names of fields of study, although they’re basically about the same thing), which is logical.</p>
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It’s just a name, and there could be plenty worse names.</p>
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Renaming computer science isn’t going to make people any smarter. The sooner you learn to get over other people being dumb, the happier you’ll be. If it helps, don’t think of them as being stupid, just think of them as still learning.</p>
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If I’m not mistaken, when the term was coined, “computer” referred to the person performing computations. Back then, you very much could not do “computer science” without a “computer”, for obvious reasons.</p>
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The term “science” has a much richer meaning than your teachers have indoctrinated you with. “Computer science” is a “science” in many, indeed most, senses I can think of. It’s only when you combine a narrow definition of “science” with a narrow-minded view of what constitutes “nature” that one comes to such clownish conclusions as computer science not constituting a science. Of course it’s a science.</p>
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Speaking of really preposterously stupid names, “informatics” has to be near the top of the pile. </p>
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Leaving alone for the moment the difficulty I have in actually parsing this sentence to meaningful English, I think something I said earlier bears repeating: only laughably narrow definitions of technology and science would disqualify CS. I can give you a definition of plant that disqualifies trees, but that just makes me look like a muppet, and should not convince anybody that trees are, in fact, not to be considered plants.</p>
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I feel almost silly saying this, but there are different terms for these areas because they refer to, well, different things. That they are related might as well mean you can use a word - even a made-up, fake, doubleplusgoodspeak word like “informatics” - to denote the collection of them, but it in no way means that the terms aren’t valuable themselves.</p>
<p>Seriously, though, every time I hear, read, type, write, say or think the word “informatics”, I feel like I’ve become a little dumber for it.</p>
<p>I don’t think there’s really any difference between CS, IT and SE. I think there’s a name creep going on and a small difference in curricula in order to justify the “branding”. It sounds as stupid as having three different types of mechanical engineering without having a difference in their focus.</p>
<p>Read more about “informatics”:
[Informatics</a> (academic field) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Informatics_(academic_field)]Informatics”>Informatics - Wikipedia)
It’s got plenty of support in Europe (esp. <a href=“http://www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/informatics/[/url]”>http://www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/informatics/</a>)</p>
<p>Plenty of people think differently. There’s probably some crotchety old man somewhere who insists aerospace, mechanical and civil engineering are really just all “Mechanator Engineering” or some equally silly term. It takes a village.</p>
<p>Frankly, when I’m looking for promising trends in “informatics”, I tend to care about places that still call it “computer science”. I’m aware of Europe’s quaint and endearing gourmet cheeses, fine wines and academic naming conventions, and all three can make you gag from time to time.</p>