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From: ramesh@cvl.umd.edu (Ramesh Sitaraman)
Newsgroups: comp.ai
Subject: Re: Is Computer Science Science?
Message-ID: <2474@cvl.umd.edu>
Date: Wed, 16-Sep-87 18:12:41 EDT
Article-I.D.: cvl.2474
Posted: Wed Sep 16 18:12:41 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 19-Sep-87 11:54:48 EDT
References: <5113@sunybcs.UUCP> <6195@apple.UUCP> <5068@jade.BERKELEY.EDU> <737@elmgate.UUCP>
Reply-To: ramesh@cvl.UUCP (Ramesh Sitaraman)
Organization: Center for Automation Research, Univ. of Md.
Lines: 41
Keywords: computers Science not bloody likely

In article <737@elmgate.UUCP> ram@elmgate.UUCP (Randy Martens) writes:
>I am of the firm opinion that there is NO such thing as
>computer science.  

Unfortunately you are totally wrong!!!  The scientific part of CS
deals with unravelling the nature of computation. This is the 
object of study of theoretical areas such as Complexity theory,
recursive function theory, programming language semantics etc. 
Computation is an abstract process but unlike other abstract 
formalisms is immediately applicable and can be realised through
physical computers. Thus there has been such an overwhelming 
growth in computer applications that the applicational aspects of CS are
more evident to an *outsider* than the theoretical core. 

Note that computation existed long before computers. Neither Eratosthenes
or Galois knew anything about digital computers but they certainly
did know about computation.  Therefore the development of computers, 
though extremely beneficial, is only incidental to a theoretician. 


>
>There is, however, Computer Engineering. (and Software Engineering,
>and Systems Engineering etc.).  Science is the discovery of the new.
>Engineering takes what the scientists have found, and finds ways
>to do useful things with it.  The two are like Yin and Yang, closely
>interrelated, but not the same, and each dependant on the other.
>
>I am a computer engineer.



>Randy Martens
>"Reality - What a Concept !" - R.Williams


					Ramesh
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