Comments on: Computer science without math

By: barry

barry — Sun, 04 May 2008 22:05:11 +0000

Really we just need to stop being afraid of the name software engineering. There are departments scattered across the country, but people seem to have a hard time making the switch. It’s as simple as understanding the difference between science and engineering- computer science curriculums teach what they should, as science can only be about understanding the basic nature of the universe, in this case in the area of computation and algorithms. However, there is no more low hanging fruit in the area, and of course it isn’t practical when building real world application (sidenote: in general, whenever anyone says some scientific field should be more practical, what they really mean is they want to create a corresponding engineering field; science by its nature is not practical, though sometimes the engineering gap is smaller). Scientists _discover_. Engineers are the ones who _create_. So most people should major in Software Engineering, where you learn the practical side of programming and such, and where HCI is treated as a legitimate field rather than being used as a euphemism for ‘stupid’. Admittedly, we need more schools to offer these programs (and probably many vocation oriented schools should just scrap their CS program to be replaced by an SE dept), but this is harder than it should be, I think because many people are wrongly accustomed to CS producing practical, usable, artifacts, just because so little engineering effort was required to make useful the scientific discoveries of the early years of the field.

By: Curtis

Curtis — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 19:47:51 +0000

If you want to see a great example of interdisciplinary work in the computer field, check out Danah Boyd’s research:

http://www.danah.org/

By: Peter White

Peter White — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 19:14:12 +0000

Thanks for the reply. I argee. Prehaps universities should, like you say, introduce interdisciplinary work. Maybe other courses should even teach basic programming skills? Maybe a bit extreme, until you consider that many companies are fighting hard to make programming open to all, even young child, if you take Lego Mindstormers as an example. It would be great, if Art students for example, could take a simple course and make truely interactive art work.
Great blog by the way, love the Mac theme.

By: Curtis

Curtis — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 18:46:54 +0000

Yes, there are many new fields emerging from traditional computer science, one example of which is Human-Computer Interaction. However, I still think the majority of new studies involving computers and society are entrenched in other departments, but the research of those departments could really help true computer scientists make better programs. Perhaps what we really need is more interdisciplinary work…

By: Peter White

Peter White — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 20:24:58 +0000

Brilliant article! I too, having read through computer science courses, believe that with the changing face of technology from a tool to almost an social centre needs to be reflected in our education. Perhaps an new subject- social computing?