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To my knowledge true computer science is essentially a very narrow focus of higher mathematics.

nextos 11y ago
Not so narrow. I'd say it may contain all mathematics that is computable, which is a rather big subset. Essentially all constructive mathematics. That's a lot of stuff. For example, probabilistic programming is concerned with all computable distributions. This is the most general class of sampleable distributions.
- TeMPOraL 11y ago
  Narrow in a sense that it's one specific angle to view math problems. But the range of problems is indeed great; hell, parts of computer science have or may have direct relation to how we view reality itself.
  - sgeisenh 11y ago
    It really isn't narrow. Mathematics, philosophy and computer science are just three different ways of viewing the same problems.
geebee 11y ago
I largely agree. Data structures and algorithms, which are very fundamental to CS, are pretty much a type of mathematics. Furthermore, I don't think you need to expand or distort the definition of mathematics into "math-ish". For instance, many branches of engineering or even physics can be intensely mathematical without being mathematics, strictly speaking, whereas code for algorithms and data structures are highly abstract and more or less form a kind of proof. Sorry to sound pedantic, but some fields use math at a very high level, whereas CS is math. There are some courses in CS, like operating systems, that I wouldn't quite consider to be math, that are still a fundamental part of CS... I suppose you could call those "computer engineering" but to me, that would be a dodge. Computer architecture and operating systems are pretty much computer science, and I wouldn't call them a specialized branch of math.
kragen 11y ago
Are we talking about academic computer science? It's divided into two parts: "theory", which is what you're talking about, and "systems", which isn't.

Not so narrow. I'd say it may contain all mathematics that is computable, which is a rather big subset. Essentially all constructive mathematics. That's a lot of stuff. For example, probabilistic programming is concerned with all computable distributions. This is the most general class of sampleable distributions.

TeMPOraL 11y ago
Narrow in a sense that it's one specific angle to view math problems. But the range of problems is indeed great; hell, parts of computer science have or may have direct relation to how we view reality itself.
- sgeisenh 11y ago
  It really isn't narrow. Mathematics, philosophy and computer science are just three different ways of viewing the same problems.

geebee 11y ago

I largely agree. Data structures and algorithms, which are very fundamental to CS, are pretty much a type of mathematics. Furthermore, I don't think you need to expand or distort the definition of mathematics into "math-ish". For instance, many branches of engineering or even physics can be intensely mathematical without being mathematics, strictly speaking, whereas code for algorithms and data structures are highly abstract and more or less form a kind of proof. Sorry to sound pedantic, but some fields use math at a very high level, whereas CS is math. There are some courses in CS, like operating systems, that I wouldn't quite consider to be math, that are still a fundamental part of CS... I suppose you could call those "computer engineering" but to me, that would be a dodge. Computer architecture and operating systems are pretty much computer science, and I wouldn't call them a specialized branch of math.

kragen 11y ago

Are we talking about academic computer science? It's divided into two parts: "theory", which is what you're talking about, and "systems", which isn't.