<p>Wikipedia has a pretty suitable explanation for each major, but I'm still puzzled after looking at sample college schedules for each major. </p>
<p>Computer engineering, which supposedly encompasses computer science, still seems to be lacking many classes I would associate with computer science...</p>
<p>Maybe I'm missing something obvious? Or maybe I'm just in need of a different explanation. Any help would be greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>a lot of people will say that computer engineering will prepare you for design of computer hardware, and computer science, software. that’s the difference. that’s kind of right. compsci does emphasize software systems while computer engineering tends to emphasize hardware systems.</p>
<p>i think the more important difference is: computer engineering programs talk more about how computing systems are designed and computer science programs talk more about using those systems to compute the answers to difficult problems.</p>
<p>that being said, the degrees are very similar and programs will vary from school to school.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>i wouldn’t say that. computer engineering doesn’t touch the theoretical aspects of computer science, which some would say are the fundamental aspects of the subject. there’s one dude on this board who’s probably gonna weigh in on this topic who is a big snob about this</p>
<p>haha i wrote yet another post answering this question!</p>
<p>CS studies computation. It is mathematical in nature.</p>
<p>CE studies computers. It is an engineering discipline.</p>
<p>There will be overlap in any practical program in either CS or CE. That doesn’t make them the same. Software vs Hardware is a good way to approach the difference as a first approximation, but like silence_kit said, it isn’t the whole story.</p>
<p>You could study CS without ever touching a computer, and CE without ever doing a proof. Pick your poison.</p>
<p>“there’s one dude on this board who’s probably gonna weigh in on this topic who is a big snob about this”