| Computer science (or computing science) is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation, and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems. Computer science has many sub-fields; some, such as computer graphics, emphasize the computation of specific results, while others, such as computational complexity theory, study the properties of computational problems. Still others focus on the challenges in implementing computations. For example, programming language theory studies approaches to describing computations, while computer programming applies specific programming languages to solve specific computational problems, and human-computer interaction focuses on the challenges in making computers and computations useful, usable, and universally accessible to people.
The general public sometimes confuses computer science with vocational areas that deal with computers (such as information technology),
new programs or improve existing ones.
Contents
History
The early foundations of what would become computer science predate the invention of the modern digital computer. Machines for calculating fixed numerical tasks, such as the abacus, have existed since antiquity. Wilhelm Schickard built the first mechanical calculator in 1623.
perform a single task, or at best some subset of all possible tasks.
During the 1940s, as newer and more powerful computing machines were developed, the term computer
computing have become distinct areas of study in their own right.
Although many initially believed it impossible that computers
its developmental stages, and such issues were commonplace.
Time has seen significant improvements in the usability and
professionals to a more widespread user base.
Major achievements
Despite its relatively short history as a formal academic
contributions to science and society. These include:
Fields of computer science
As a discipline, computer science spans a range of topics from
areas of computer science.
Theoretical computer science
The broader field of theoretical computer science
mathematical aspects of computing.
Theory of computation
The study of the theory of computation
computations. In an effort to answer the first question, computability theory examines which computational problems are solvable on various theoretical models of computation. The second question is addressed by computational complexity theory, which studies the time and space costs associated with different approaches to solving a computational problem.
The famous "P=NP?" problem, one of the Millennium Prize Problems, is an open problem in the theory of computation.
Algorithms and data structures
Programming methodology and languages
Computer elements and architecture
Numerical and symbolic computation
Applications
The following disciplines are often studied from a more theoretical,
engineering perspective.
Relationship with other fields
Despite its name, a significant amount of computer science does not
suggested in the Communications of the ACM – turingineer, turologist, flow-charts-man, applied meta-mathematician, and applied epistemologist. Informatik was a term used in Europe with more frequency.
The renowned computer scientist Edsger Dijkstra
also often crossed into other disciplines, such as cognitive science, economics, mathematics, physics (see quantum computing), and linguistics.
Computer science is considered by some to have a much closer relationship with mathematics than many scientific disciplines, with some observers saying that computing is a mathematical science. Early computer science was strongly influenced by the work of mathematicians such as Kurt Gödel and Alan Turing, and there continues to be a useful interchange of ideas between the two fields in areas such as mathematical logic, category theory, domain theory, and algebra.
The relationship between computer science and software engineering is a contentious issue, which is further muddied by disputes over what the term "software engineering" means, and how computer science is defined. David Parnas,
complementary disciplines.
The academic, political, and funding aspects of computer science
alignment computational science. Both types of departments tend to make efforts to bridge the field educationally if not across all research.
Computer science education
Some universities teach computer science as a theoretical study of
theory of computation, analysis of algorithms, formal methods, concurrency theory, databases, computer graphics and systems analysis, among others. They typically also teach computer programming, but treat it as a vessel for the support of other fields of computer science rather than a central focus of high-level study.
Other colleges and universities, as well as secondary schools
are often referred to as software engineering. However, there is a lot of disagreement over the meaning of the term, and whether or not it is the same thing as programming.
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Classical
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