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"Among leading academics also, it's not unusual to find those without formal undergraduate degrees in CS. Many come from mathematics backgrounds, including seve
by mcguire 3y ago
"Among leading academics also, it's not unusual to find those without formal undergraduate degrees in CS. Many come from mathematics backgrounds, including several Turing Award recipients."
Before 1975, computer science degree programs were pretty thin on the ground. Most of the Turing Award winners have degrees in physics, mathematics, or electrical engineering, which were closely related to CS.
Fortunately, today, you can become interested in CS topics and easily find a CS program without going through one of the other disciplines.
- kubrickslair 3y agoI think it’s a little more complex. Reflecting on a decade ago, my then relatively young PhD advisor, along with many colleagues, came from a myriad of backgrounds – applied math being a standout. And some of them ended up doing really remarkable work - almost everyone has used some work that came out of our lab. So I think pigeonholing on CS is not a good idea. My stress on achievements was just to underscore this point.
- mcguire 3y agoI don't know. I graduated with a BA in CS (which is no longer available), and am pretty happy to have skipped the chem/bio/physics requirement; those are a lot of work for very little gain as far as I can see. I've gotten much more use out of the formal logic and automata theory classes (which weren't taught by the CS dept.).