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Despite what completely uninformed people may think, the field "computer science" is not about software development. It's a branch of mathematics. If you want a

by kibwen 10mo ago

Despite what completely uninformed people may think, the field "computer science" is not about software development. It's a branch of mathematics. If you want an education in software development, those are offered by trade schools.

AnimalMuppet 10mo ago
What I want is for universities to offer a degree in Software Engineering. That's a different field from Computer Science. You say that belongs in a trade school? I might agree, if you think trade schools and not universities should teach electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, and chemical engineering. But if chemical engineering belongs at a university, so does software engineering.
- mxkopy 10mo ago
  Last I checked ASU does, and I’m certain many other universities do too.
- collingreen 10mo ago
  Plenty of schools offer software engineering degrees alongside computer science, including mine ~20 years ago. The bigger problem when I was there was undergrads (me very much included) not understanding the difference at all when signing up.
- none2585 10mo ago
  Saying this as a software engineer that has a degree in electrical engineering - software "engineering" is definitely not the same as other engineering disciplines and definitely belongs in a trade school.
  - menaerus 10mo ago
    Right, because the guy sitting next to me and is designing a PCB for next copy of rPI is so much more for an engineer than the other guy designing a distributed computing algorithm? It shows that you only dealt with the trivial things in SE. There are very complex areas in both disciplines and as much as I can find trivial things in SE I can do the same for EE. Let's just not pretend it's a science fiction when it's not.
    - none2585 10mo ago
      Developing a distributed computing algorithm I think would squarely fall into CS. Engineering is the application of stuff like that.
- pkaye 10mo ago
  My university had Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Software Engineering and Computer Science degrees (in additional to all the other standard ones.)
- xboxnolifes 10mo ago
  Many do. Though, the one I'm familiar with is basically a CS-lite degree with software specific project design and management courses. Glad I did CS, since SE looked like it consisted of mostly group projects writing 40 pages of UML charts before implementing a CRUD app.
kerblang 10mo ago
This widely circulated claim ignores the fact that math is not science.
happytoexplain 10mo ago
I didn't say it taught you software development (though it does, non-primarily), I said it was '"the" software degree'. I.e. the degree you get if you want to get into software in general - which, in reality, is what people believe is true, and reality/pragmatism is all that matters, even if you feel so superior to those people as to resort to insults. To be clear, I did not go into CS. But I do live in this world

by kibwen 10mo ago

AnimalMuppet 10mo ago

What I want is for universities to offer a degree in Software Engineering. That's a different field from Computer Science. You say that belongs in a trade school? I might agree, if you think trade schools and not universities should teach electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, and chemical engineering. But if chemical engineering belongs at a university, so does software engineering.

mxkopy 10mo ago
Last I checked ASU does, and I’m certain many other universities do too.
collingreen 10mo ago
Plenty of schools offer software engineering degrees alongside computer science, including mine ~20 years ago. The bigger problem when I was there was undergrads (me very much included) not understanding the difference at all when signing up.
none2585 10mo ago
Saying this as a software engineer that has a degree in electrical engineering - software "engineering" is definitely not the same as other engineering disciplines and definitely belongs in a trade school.
- menaerus 10mo ago
  Right, because the guy sitting next to me and is designing a PCB for next copy of rPI is so much more for an engineer than the other guy designing a distributed computing algorithm? It shows that you only dealt with the trivial things in SE. There are very complex areas in both disciplines and as much as I can find trivial things in SE I can do the same for EE. Let's just not pretend it's a science fiction when it's not.
  - none2585 10mo ago
    Developing a distributed computing algorithm I think would squarely fall into CS. Engineering is the application of stuff like that.
pkaye 10mo ago
My university had Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Software Engineering and Computer Science degrees (in additional to all the other standard ones.)
xboxnolifes 10mo ago
Many do. Though, the one I'm familiar with is basically a CS-lite degree with software specific project design and management courses. Glad I did CS, since SE looked like it consisted of mostly group projects writing 40 pages of UML charts before implementing a CRUD app.

kerblang 10mo ago

This widely circulated claim ignores the fact that math is not science.

happytoexplain 10mo ago

I didn't say it taught you software development (though it does, non-primarily), I said it was '"the" software degree'. I.e. the degree you get if you want to get into software in general - which, in reality, is what people believe is true, and reality/pragmatism is all that matters, even if you feel so superior to those people as to resort to insults. To be clear, I did not go into CS. But I do live in this world