4 ms·

notoriously Philip Wadler says that computer science has two problems: computer and science. It's not about computers and "You don't put science on your name i

notoriously Philip Wadler says that computer science has two problems: computer and science. It's not about computers and "You don't put science on your name if you're a real science" He prefers the name informatics. source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=IOiZatlZtGU https://youtube.com/watch?v=IOiZatlZtGU

rsj_hn 5y ago
An economist friend of mine told me that once, so this isn't just a CS quip.
dmlorenzetti 5y ago
You don't put science on your name if you're a real science Having flashbacks to when a close friend was getting an MS in Political Science, and spent the first semester in a class devoted to whether or not political science is a science.
- HeyLaughingBoy 5y ago
  Well? Don't keep us hanging.
wisemang 5y ago
Kinda like countries that feel the need to put “democratic” in their name.
- viraptor 5y ago
  Also applies to newspapers which include some version of "truth" in the title. (Russian propaganda "Pravda", Polish tabloid "Fakt", etc.)
- phaedrix 5y ago
  Or "People"...
  - behnamoh 5y ago
    Or "Republic"...
    - Barfieldmv 5y ago
      Or "Of China"....
Frost1x 5y ago
"Information science" is basically long form of "informatics" so that breaks it I'd say. Also, "information" tends to imply a focus on state and places computational aspects (operations performed on information) as second hand. I've yet to find a classification I really like but this is an interesting take. I still tend to like CIS (Computing and Information Sciences). The problem with CS is it focuses on computation and puts state as second class. The problem with IS is it focuses on state and puts computing as second class. To me, both are equally important.
- peoplefromibiza 5y ago
  TBF informatics is "the study of computational systems" I have studied informatics, but don't call myself an informatic, because I am not doing any research. I call myself a programmer, because I am not doing engineering either.
kragen 5y ago
Informática is a common term in Spanish, as you probably know.
anamax 5y ago
Materials Science is about as sciency as you can get.
lr1970 5y ago
> It's not about computers and "You don't put science on your name if you're a real science" "Computer science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes." - Edsger W. Dijkstra [0], [1]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edsger_W._Dijkstra https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edsger_W._Dijkstra [1] https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Computer_science https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Computer_science

rsj_hn 5y ago

An economist friend of mine told me that once, so this isn't just a CS quip.

dmlorenzetti 5y ago

You don't put science on your name if you're a real science Having flashbacks to when a close friend was getting an MS in Political Science, and spent the first semester in a class devoted to whether or not political science is a science.

HeyLaughingBoy 5y ago
Well? Don't keep us hanging.

wisemang 5y ago

Kinda like countries that feel the need to put “democratic” in their name.

viraptor 5y ago
Also applies to newspapers which include some version of "truth" in the title. (Russian propaganda "Pravda", Polish tabloid "Fakt", etc.)
phaedrix 5y ago
Or "People"...
- behnamoh 5y ago
  Or "Republic"...
  - Barfieldmv 5y ago
    Or "Of China"....

Frost1x 5y ago

"Information science" is basically long form of "informatics" so that breaks it I'd say. Also, "information" tends to imply a focus on state and places computational aspects (operations performed on information) as second hand. I've yet to find a classification I really like but this is an interesting take. I still tend to like CIS (Computing and Information Sciences). The problem with CS is it focuses on computation and puts state as second class. The problem with IS is it focuses on state and puts computing as second class. To me, both are equally important.

peoplefromibiza 5y ago
TBF informatics is "the study of computational systems" I have studied informatics, but don't call myself an informatic, because I am not doing any research. I call myself a programmer, because I am not doing engineering either.

kragen 5y ago

Informática is a common term in Spanish, as you probably know.

anamax 5y ago

Materials Science is about as sciency as you can get.

lr1970 5y ago

> It's not about computers and "You don't put science on your name if you're a real science" "Computer science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes." - Edsger W. Dijkstra [0], [1]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edsger_W._Dijkstra https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edsger_W._Dijkstra [1] https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Computer_science https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Computer_science