Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!lll-winken!aunro!alberta!ubc-cs!manis From: manis@cs.ubc.ca (Vincent Manis) Newsgroups: comp.edu Subject: Re: most respected chinese SCIENTISTs Message-ID: <1991May23.022725.19649@cs.ubc.ca> Date: 23 May 91 02:27:25 GMT References: <1991May12.224331.20754@lynx.CS.ORST.EDU> <1991May14.190239.1330@cs.yale.edu> Sender: usenet@cs.ubc.ca (Usenet News) Organization: Institute for Pure and Applied Eschatology Lines: 24 In article <1991May14.190239.1330@cs.yale.edu> horne-scott@cs.yale.edu (Scott Horne) writes: >You keep avoiding the question. Please tell us: What is scientific about >computer "science"? Science involves the collection of data and the development and refinement of models. Not all of computer science follows this paradigm (the engineering design/analysis paradigm and the mathematical proof paradigm are also common), but there is certainly a strong scientific element in those parts of computer science which are concerned with empirical methods. For example, consider the working set model: Denning derived it from studying data on paging traffic. In turn, the model caused new systems to be built, each of which resulted in further revisions to the model. AI tends to follow similar paradigms. More recently, parallel complexity theorists have tended to build labs in order to perform experiments which are aimed at refining their models. -- \ Vincent Manis "There is no law that vulgarity and \ Department of Computer Science literary excellence cannot coexist." /\ University of British Columbia -- A. Trevor Hodge / \ Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1W5 (604) 228-2394