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From: crm@romeo.cs.duke.edu (Charlie Martin)
Newsgroups: comp.software-eng
Subject: Re: Reasons why you don't prove your programs are correct
Message-ID: <17921@duke.cs.duke.edu>
Date: 2 Mar 90 14:55:02 GMT
References: <3236@umn-d-ub.D.UMN.EDU.. <12178@goofy.megatest.UUCP>
Sender: news@duke.cs.duke.edu
Reply-To: crm@romeo.UUCP (Charlie Martin)
Organization: Duke University CS Dept.; Durham, NC
Lines: 28

In article <12178@goofy.megatest.UUCP.. djones@megatest.UUCP (Dave Jones) writes:
..From article <3236@umn-d-ub.D.UMN.EDU>, by phil@umn-d-ub.D.UMN.EDU (Philosophy Dept):
.....
..> 
..> My arguments concern whether computer science should be viewed as a branch of
..> pure mathematics or as a branch of applied mathematics.
..>
..
..I can't tell you how it 'should be viewed'. (Through rose colored glasses?)
..But kind of job almost everybody with computer science degrees actually does
..for a living is neither mathematics nor science. It's mostly technical
..writing and engineering.  (That's what I do, and my degree is master of
.._science_ in _mathematics_, for Pete's sake.  Go figure.)
..
..
..
..       Dave (Welcome to College - Here's Your High-Horse) Jones

Sure, and what you've just described is a job in *software engineering*,
not *computer science*.  Let's try to keep our terminology straight.

I'm with Fetzer on this: *computer science* is a kind of applied
mathematics: everything that we thiink of as being specific to computer
science is more or less mathematical in nature (sure, AI has a lot of
cognitive science/psychology involved, but that isn't specific to CS.)

But computer science != software engineering.
Charlie Martin (crm@cs.duke.edu,mcnc!duke!crm)