3 ms·

Computer Science is more a pure science, Software Engineering has more leanings to an art form.

guitarbill 6y ago
Is math science? Science is generally about testability, right? If math isn't science, it's still extremely useful, and a valid, rigorous field in itself. I don't think it's so easy though. If anything, it seems like in software engineering, you come up with a "model" of how it ought to be done, and then see if that actually works in the real world. Food for thought :D
- whatever1 6y ago
  Why do you think Math is not testable? You can run numerical experiments to validate laws, theorems etc Heck we even have numerically supported proofs nowadays
- tchalla 6y ago
  Scientific hypothesis need to be verifiable and falsifiable. Most hypothesis that follow them are sciences. Mathematics is one of them and so are many others.
- analog31 6y ago
  The thing that really distinguishes science is an appeal to empirical evidence as a boundary condition for the development and acceptance of hypotheses. Science can get lost in the woods for a long time -- for one thing, theory is fun -- but eventually has to bump into some empirical data. For instance the trouble that plagues the search for a theory that reconciles gravity and quantum mechanics is that theories are a dime a dozen, but ones that can be empirically tested remain elusive. Theology was regarded as a science in the middle ages, but its appeal was to evidence found in scripture and tradition rather than empirical data. I honestly don't know if it's regarded in the same way today. With that said, scientific methodology can be useful in the exploration of math. I've used computation to guide me towards a proof. For instance if the problem is: "Find all numbers such that ...," and the first 10 of those numbers are powers of two, hmmmm... guess where you'll start looking for a proof. But the computation itself was not a proof. Computers can be studied from a pure math angle, e.g., computing the order of a sorting algorithm. But they can also be studied by treating a computer as an unknown whose properties are discovered by empirical testing of hypotheses. For instance, benchmarking is such a pursuit.
SeanLuke 6y ago
In English, science (other colloquially, as in "the science of fashionology") means something specific -- a discipline whose core technique of knowledge discovery is the Scientific Method. That is, in English, math is not a science. Given this: in what universe is Computer Science a science? The Scientific Method is used here and there, of course, but it's hardly the core technique.
- zeroonetwothree 6y ago
  So before the scientific method science didn’t exist? And I guess theoretical physics is also not science. Moreover CS does use experimentation to answer questions. That’s basically all of ML for example.

Is math science? Science is generally about testability, right? If math isn't science, it's still extremely useful, and a valid, rigorous field in itself. I don't think it's so easy though. If anything, it seems like in software engineering, you come up with a "model" of how it ought to be done, and then see if that actually works in the real world. Food for thought :D

whatever1 6y ago
Why do you think Math is not testable? You can run numerical experiments to validate laws, theorems etc Heck we even have numerically supported proofs nowadays
tchalla 6y ago
Scientific hypothesis need to be verifiable and falsifiable. Most hypothesis that follow them are sciences. Mathematics is one of them and so are many others.
analog31 6y ago
The thing that really distinguishes science is an appeal to empirical evidence as a boundary condition for the development and acceptance of hypotheses. Science can get lost in the woods for a long time -- for one thing, theory is fun -- but eventually has to bump into some empirical data. For instance the trouble that plagues the search for a theory that reconciles gravity and quantum mechanics is that theories are a dime a dozen, but ones that can be empirically tested remain elusive. Theology was regarded as a science in the middle ages, but its appeal was to evidence found in scripture and tradition rather than empirical data. I honestly don't know if it's regarded in the same way today. With that said, scientific methodology can be useful in the exploration of math. I've used computation to guide me towards a proof. For instance if the problem is: "Find all numbers such that ...," and the first 10 of those numbers are powers of two, hmmmm... guess where you'll start looking for a proof. But the computation itself was not a proof. Computers can be studied from a pure math angle, e.g., computing the order of a sorting algorithm. But they can also be studied by treating a computer as an unknown whose properties are discovered by empirical testing of hypotheses. For instance, benchmarking is such a pursuit.

SeanLuke 6y ago

In English, science (other colloquially, as in "the science of fashionology") means something specific -- a discipline whose core technique of knowledge discovery is the Scientific Method. That is, in English, math is not a science. Given this: in what universe is Computer Science a science? The Scientific Method is used here and there, of course, but it's hardly the core technique.

zeroonetwothree 6y ago
So before the scientific method science didn’t exist? And I guess theoretical physics is also not science. Moreover CS does use experimentation to answer questions. That’s basically all of ML for example.