Computer science
Study of computation, information, and automation spanning theory to application.
Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. It spans theoretical disciplines such as algorithms and theory of computation to applied disciplines including hardware and software design. An expert in the field is known as a computer scientist.
- field
- Computer science
- known_for
- Study of computation, information, and automation; central role of algorithms and data structures; determining what can and cannot be automated
- highest_distinction
- Turing Award
- earliest_foundations
- Predate the invention of the modern digital computer; abacus and algorithms from antiquity
- first_degree_program
- Cambridge Diploma in Computer Science, 1953
- first_US_department
- Purdue University, 1962
Lore & Background
The earliest foundations of computer science predate the modern digital computer, with calculating machines like the abacus and algorithms existing since antiquity. Leonardo Torres Quevedo published Essays on Automatics in 1914 and demonstrated the Electromechanical Arithmometer in 1920. Howard Aiken convinced IBM to develop the ASCC/Harvard Mark I in 1937, based on Babbage's Analytical Engine.
Reader's Guide
Computer science became established as a distinct academic discipline in the 1950s and early 1960s. The first computer science degree program began at the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory in 1953, and the first U.S. department was formed at Purdue University in 1962. Alternative names such as computing science, datalogy, and data science have been proposed. The field's fundamental concern is determining what can and cannot be automated. Its scope includes algorithms, theory of computation, cryptography, computer graphics, programming language theory, database theory, human–computer interaction, software engineering, operating systems, artificial intelligence, and machine learning. The Turing Award is generally recognized as the highest distinction in computer science.
Did You Know?
- The first computer science degree program was the Cambridge Diploma in Computer Science, beginning in 1953.
- The Turing Award is generally recognized as the highest distinction in computer science.
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