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Why not call "Computer Engineering" 'Computing'?

by raister 7y ago

JustSomeNobody 7y ago
Why? As the diagram shows a degree in computer engineering is basically a mashup of CS and EE.
- rajesh-s 7y ago
  Yes! Thanks for noticing it. That was one of the primary reasons I decided to keep it. There seems to be a general confusion about CE/CS.
douglaswlance 7y ago
Computing is the act of computation. Computer engineering is the act of engineering performed to build computers, which are devices that compute.
ThrowawayR2 7y ago
The act of computation can be done with abacuses, gears and mechanical linkages (Babbage difference engine and other mechanical computers), fluid logic, and a variety of other mechanisms. The means of implementation has little to do with the mathematics of computing itself. Astronomy isn't about telescopes, as Dijkstra famously noted in his analogy about CS, but it's difficult to deny that astronomers wouldn't have much to do other than twiddle their thumbs without the aid of them. Computer engineering is about building the telescopes.
bluedays 7y ago
It’s funny you should ask that as I was just watching a lecture by Harold Abelson in which he addresses this exact question. https://youtu.be/-J_xL4IGhJA https://youtu.be/-J_xL4IGhJA In case you don’t have the time or inclination to watch the video it can basically be summarized by saying the following. When the Egyptians first discovered geometry it was considered crop science as it’s primary application was for determining crop yields and when to plant and harvest. In the same way now that computers science is applied to computers today. But just like Geometry is really about farming, computer science is not really about computers. Professor Abelson goes on to explain that computer science provides a means to determine proofs for abstract mathematics a reasoning, so that we can understand with definitive proof things that until now were only theoretical.
- rajesh-s 7y ago
  Thank you for sharing this!

Why not call "Computer Engineering" 'Computing'?

JustSomeNobody 7y ago

Why? As the diagram shows a degree in computer engineering is basically a mashup of CS and EE.

rajesh-s 7y ago
Yes! Thanks for noticing it. That was one of the primary reasons I decided to keep it. There seems to be a general confusion about CE/CS.

douglaswlance 7y ago

Computing is the act of computation. Computer engineering is the act of engineering performed to build computers, which are devices that compute.

ThrowawayR2 7y ago

The act of computation can be done with abacuses, gears and mechanical linkages (Babbage difference engine and other mechanical computers), fluid logic, and a variety of other mechanisms. The means of implementation has little to do with the mathematics of computing itself. Astronomy isn't about telescopes, as Dijkstra famously noted in his analogy about CS, but it's difficult to deny that astronomers wouldn't have much to do other than twiddle their thumbs without the aid of them. Computer engineering is about building the telescopes.

bluedays 7y ago

It’s funny you should ask that as I was just watching a lecture by Harold Abelson in which he addresses this exact question. https://youtu.be/-J_xL4IGhJA https://youtu.be/-J_xL4IGhJA In case you don’t have the time or inclination to watch the video it can basically be summarized by saying the following. When the Egyptians first discovered geometry it was considered crop science as it’s primary application was for determining crop yields and when to plant and harvest. In the same way now that computers science is applied to computers today. But just like Geometry is really about farming, computer science is not really about computers. Professor Abelson goes on to explain that computer science provides a means to determine proofs for abstract mathematics a reasoning, so that we can understand with definitive proof things that until now were only theoretical.

rajesh-s 7y ago
Thank you for sharing this!