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The easiest way I found to describe the differences between science and engineering (and I think about this fairly often) is by analogy with learning how to dri
by jdiez17 11y ago
The easiest way I found to describe the differences between science and engineering (and I think about this fairly often) is by analogy with learning how to drive a (manual) car.
There are a few key skills one needs to master to be able to drive a car through any kind of circuit: from the basics, such as shifting up and down and the appropriate times, to drifting at will. Given enough time and "research", people can master this aspect effectively. That's science.
Engineering is the rest of the driving experience. The placement of traffic lights, how to synchronise them so two perpendicular roads are not green at the same time, and all of the signaling (stop, yield, etc) that we are used to.
The difference is there is a bigger solution space in engineering: there is no "one correct answer", and the factors involved in determining whether something is a good engineering solution are much broader. For example, reusing the signaling example above, the "stop" sign doesn't have to be a hexagonal red shape, but some early civil engineer figured that shape is the most adequate.
- derpderpdrep 11y agoI don't really know, computer science seems concerned with equipping the student with the best tools to solve a problem, and mastery in the creation of them. Computer engineering concerns itself with similar concepts, but at a lower level of abstraction. It's still not EE, which is lower still. I studied computer/electrical engineering for part of my undergrad, and computer science for my masters. The biggest difference I recognized was the level of abstraction. Each has it's own maths, systems of reasoning and analysis.
- efaref 11y ago"Computer science" courses are mostly misnamed. The research faculties they're located in are usually scientific (in that they concern research into computability and computation), however what undergraduate students mostly learn is the primitive form of engineering that we've gleaned from that science so far. I have an MEng in Computing, because my alma mater is one of the few that realises the distinction.
- derpderpdrep 11y agoI'm talking from a graduate perspective, but the courses I TAd for undergrad were not what I would call 'primitive engineering' as there is an emphasis on analysis and rigor. It is a science to be able to build programs and prove things about them. It is way more abstract maths than anything in engineering (linear algebra still has some physical grounding in reality, where category theory is more for the organization of mind).
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]