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Computer science is about computers just as much as physics is about telescopes. Computer scientists should think of computers in terms of logic, computability
by Almondsetat 3y ago
Computer science is about computers just as much as physics is about telescopes.
Computer scientists should think of computers in terms of logic, computability and complexity theory. We don’t expect physicists to learn how the first telescopes worked in detail because it’s useless. A physicist should learn optics and then understand why telescopes were build that way.
The history of something can help put it in context and make taking the pill less bitter, but the fact remains that the majority of computer engineering is a bunch of incoherent mess that stems from decades of desperate backwards compatibility and baby duck syndrome. If you taught CS students stuff from the PDP era you would simply give them a limited view of what computers can be.
- yjftsjthsd-h 3y ago> Computer science is about computers just as much as physics is about telescopes. Assume I actually mean computer engineering or so, but it's still taught in a section of school called the computer science department and the diplomas still say computer science so I'm going to call it that. > but the fact remains that the majority of computer engineering is a bunch of incoherent mess that stems from decades of desperate backwards compatibility and baby duck syndrome. Yeah, that's my point; in reality our computers are layers upon layers of old stuff patched over with newer stuff for decades, so we might as well teach it that way. And obviously we should teach all the way to present; I'm not intending to suggest that we stop in the 80s.
- mpweiher 3y ago> Computer science is about computers just as much as physics is about telescopes. I too am a sucker for a pithy quote. Alas it couldn’t be more wrong. Computer science is about computers and how to program them. It is an engineering discipline, not a science.
- Almondsetat 3y ago> It is an engineering discipline That’s computer engineering, not computer science
- mpweiher 3y agoNope. You're thinking of theoretical computer science. Which is a subfield.
- kiitos 3y agoThis is a fun way to describe the academic domain of CS theory, but practice demands an enormous amount of mechanical sympathy.
- aragilar 3y agoYou mean astronomy, not physics. Physics is about telescopes (and other physical objects), and learning about basic telescopes, and how to improve them is part of optics courses. Astronomy on the other hand doesn't actually care how telescopes are built (other than the data acquired by them meets the needs of the science).