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Theoretical computer science predates modern computers by decades. Everything else is just implementation details.

l33t2328 5y ago
Theoretical computer science is such a small portion of computer science that it’s a bit of a joke to pretend it’s most of the field.
- fredophile 5y ago
  In the post I originally replied to you mentioned a bunch of classes. Each of them, with the possible exception of software engineering, is a small portion of computer science. You could spend your whole career as a programmer and never touch a database or networked code. Even though theoretical computer science might be a small part of CS, everyone needs to use it to some degree even if they don't realize it. Can I compute X? That's theoretical computer science. Is algorithm A faster than algorithm B? Theoretical computer science again. You also compared CS to physics and chemistry which is a bad comparison. Physics and chemistry don't have an equivalent foundation to theoretical comp sci. I'd also argue that comp sci isn't a science at all. What I do on a daily basis as a programmer is closer to plumbing than it is to science.
  - mcguire 5y ago
    "Physics and chemistry don't have an equivalent foundation to theoretical comp sci." Either that's not true, or there are an awful lot of physicists and chemists out there wondering why they took so many math courses.
    - fredophile 5y ago
      Physics and chemistry use math but are not math. You can't point to an area of math and say "this is physics" or "this is chemistry." There is no chemistry without chemicals. There is no physics without physical processes. In contrast, there are areas of what we now call computer science that are math and predate computers.
      - Jensson 5y ago
        You have mathematical physics, which is math. It is about treating physics as math, meaning you have axioms for the different laws of physics and then explore the topic that way. It doesn't care about experiments at all, it is just pure math. They still haven't properly formalized all of current physics that way, so it is ongoing work.
mcguire 5y ago
Is AI computer science? Are the people going to OSDI (https://www.usenix.org/conference/osdi21/technical-sessions https://www.usenix.org/conference/osdi21/technical-sessions) doing computer science? How about SIGGRAPH (https://s2021.siggraph.org/ https://s2021.siggraph.org/)?
- fredophile 5y ago
  Was anyone arguing that they aren't? I'm sure you had a point behind these questions but I honestly don't get it. Could you please explain it?
  - mcguire 5y ago
    "Everything else is just implementation details." Except that those details seem to require a considerable amount of work.
    - fredophile 5y ago
      Everything that falls under the umbrella of the term computer science can, in my opinion, be put into one of three categories: theoretical comp sci, algorithms, and coding. Theoretical comp sci is math. You don't need computers to do it and this is the foundation everything else is built on. Algorithms are all the specialized knowledge that fields like AI, machine learning, rendering, databases, etc use. You still don't need computers to make an algorithm. You need theoretical comp sci if you want to compare algorithms or determine if your desired result is even computable. Finally, you've got the implementation of those algorithms. This category is closer to doing a trade than anything else. This category includes all the stuff like choice of languages, should I use OOP, and other software engineering considerations Of the three, this is the category that most computer science graduates spend most of their time on. The third category is mostly, if not all, implementation details. The fact that this is most of the work doesn't change that. I'd argue that most of the second category is implementation details as well.

Theoretical computer science is such a small portion of computer science that it’s a bit of a joke to pretend it’s most of the field.

fredophile 5y ago
In the post I originally replied to you mentioned a bunch of classes. Each of them, with the possible exception of software engineering, is a small portion of computer science. You could spend your whole career as a programmer and never touch a database or networked code. Even though theoretical computer science might be a small part of CS, everyone needs to use it to some degree even if they don't realize it. Can I compute X? That's theoretical computer science. Is algorithm A faster than algorithm B? Theoretical computer science again. You also compared CS to physics and chemistry which is a bad comparison. Physics and chemistry don't have an equivalent foundation to theoretical comp sci. I'd also argue that comp sci isn't a science at all. What I do on a daily basis as a programmer is closer to plumbing than it is to science.
- mcguire 5y ago
  "Physics and chemistry don't have an equivalent foundation to theoretical comp sci." Either that's not true, or there are an awful lot of physicists and chemists out there wondering why they took so many math courses.
  - fredophile 5y ago
    Physics and chemistry use math but are not math. You can't point to an area of math and say "this is physics" or "this is chemistry." There is no chemistry without chemicals. There is no physics without physical processes. In contrast, there are areas of what we now call computer science that are math and predate computers.
    - Jensson 5y ago
      You have mathematical physics, which is math. It is about treating physics as math, meaning you have axioms for the different laws of physics and then explore the topic that way. It doesn't care about experiments at all, it is just pure math. They still haven't properly formalized all of current physics that way, so it is ongoing work.

mcguire 5y ago

Is AI computer science? Are the people going to OSDI (https://www.usenix.org/conference/osdi21/technical-sessions https://www.usenix.org/conference/osdi21/technical-sessions) doing computer science? How about SIGGRAPH (https://s2021.siggraph.org/ https://s2021.siggraph.org/)?

fredophile 5y ago
Was anyone arguing that they aren't? I'm sure you had a point behind these questions but I honestly don't get it. Could you please explain it?
- mcguire 5y ago
  "Everything else is just implementation details." Except that those details seem to require a considerable amount of work.
  - fredophile 5y ago
    Everything that falls under the umbrella of the term computer science can, in my opinion, be put into one of three categories: theoretical comp sci, algorithms, and coding. Theoretical comp sci is math. You don't need computers to do it and this is the foundation everything else is built on. Algorithms are all the specialized knowledge that fields like AI, machine learning, rendering, databases, etc use. You still don't need computers to make an algorithm. You need theoretical comp sci if you want to compare algorithms or determine if your desired result is even computable. Finally, you've got the implementation of those algorithms. This category is closer to doing a trade than anything else. This category includes all the stuff like choice of languages, should I use OOP, and other software engineering considerations Of the three, this is the category that most computer science graduates spend most of their time on. The third category is mostly, if not all, implementation details. The fact that this is most of the work doesn't change that. I'd argue that most of the second category is implementation details as well.