4 ms·
Yes. I often explained that CS was more like a math degree than an engineering degree.
by jasonlfunk 9y ago
Yes. I often explained that CS was more like a math degree than an engineering degree.
- lordnacho 9y agoAn engineering degree won't teach you how to do things, either. I have one. Grads aren't able to build bridges, silicon chips, airplanes, or whatever else engineers are supposed to do. (Ok, I built a radio in my first term. But it was a very simple one.) They just have some intellectual tools that are useful precursors to gaining such knowledge. You can liken CS to something like Chemistry. Is Chemistry about test tubes and HPLC devices? No. Will you learn how test tubes work when you do a chemistry degree? Probably. It just happens that the practical skill practiced by CS majors is coding. And coding has this unusually large applicability that wet lab work doesn't. Does that mean CS is about coding? No. But you'll probably learn more about coding doing CS than most other things.
- hugs 9y agoIronically, an engineering degree is also like a math degree.
- NTDF9 9y agoElectrical engineering surely is.
- auxym 9y agoMeh, at least my (mechanical engineering) degree wasn't. Sure, you learn some mathematical tools that can help you solve some very practical problems, but it stops about there. I was not taught anything close to creative mathematical thinking. I was never taught the fundamentals of things: the axioms and the theorems on which the tools we "learn" are based on. I can guarantee you no one in my graduating class could read a proof of even modest complexity, let alone write one. Granted, I did go to a school with a good reputation, but one of a very practical/applied program. Still, I'm pretty convinced that math and engineering are very, very different fields, even if all engineering programs include a handful of math classes.
- WalterBright 9y agoMy engineering classes (Caltech) were nearly all applied math classes.
- umanwizard 9y ago“Applied math” isn’t very similar to what you learn in a reputable math degree, so the point stands.
- fjsolwmv 9y agoAn applied math degree
- umanwizard 9y agoNo it is not. I studied math and the engineers only went as far as differential equations, basic (non proof based) complex analysis, and so on. There were zero engineers in theoretical classes.
- Bromskloss 9y ago> non proof based What's that about? Does the lecturer just state theorems without proving them, or does it mean that the students aren't required to be able to prove them?
- closeparen 9y agoIt means the activity of the class (lectures, homework, exams) is to compute numeric and algebraic solutions according to the methods and procedures you're taught. The outcome of a class is generally that you're able to solve a new kind of equation. This describes 99% of the math that most Americans (including engineering students) who are not math majors will ever encounter. Proofs may be presented as curiosities, and students may even be quizzed on them, but students would not be expected to come up with proofs they haven't seen before.
- guyzero 9y agoHaving attended Waterloo, this isn't very surprising at all. The CS department is part of the Math Faculty.
- WalterBright 9y agoMechanical engineering, fluid mechanics, electronics, all have a common core of mathematical modeling techniques. An engineering degree is fairly flexible, and one can even pivot into CS. But CS has no commonality with engineering, and a CS degree cannot pivot into engineering.
- jghn 9y agoIt wasn't that many years ago that most colleges didn't offer a true CS degree, but rather a math degree in CS. When I was applying to colleges in the early 90s I remember it being roughly 50/50.