Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and
information.[1][2][3] Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as
algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to
practical disciplines (including the design and implementation of hardware
and software).[4][5][6] Computer science is generally considered an academic
discipline and distinct from computer programming which is considered to
be a technical eld.[7]
Algorithms and data structures are central to computer science.[8] The
theory of computation concerns abstract models of computation and
general classes of problems that can be solved using them. The elds of
cryptography and computer security involve studying the means for secure
communication and for preventing security vulnerabilities. Computer
graphics and computational geometry address the generation of images.
Programming language theory considers different ways to describe
computational processes, and database theory concerns the management
of repositories of data. Human–computer interaction investigates the
interfaces through which humans and computers interact, and software
engineering focuses on the design and principles behind developing
software. Areas such as operating systems, networks and embedded
systems investigate the principles and design behind complex systems.
Computer architecture describes the construction of computer components
and computer-operated equipment. Arti cial intelligence and machine
learning aim to synthesize goal-orientated processes such as problem-
solving, decision-making, environmental adaptation, planning and learning
found in humans and animals. Within arti cial intelligence, computer vision
aims to understand and process image and video data, while natural
language processing aims to understand and process textual and linguistic
data.
The fundamental concern of computer science is determining what can and
cannot be automated.[2][9][3][10][11] The Turing Award is generally recognized as
the highest distinction in computer science.[12][13]
History
Main article: History of computer science
History of computing
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Hardware
• Hardware before 1960 Hardware 1960s to
present
Software
• Software Unix Free software and open-
source software
Computer science
• Arti cial intelligence Compiler construction
Early computer science Operating systems
Programming languages Prominent pioneers
Software engineering
Modern concepts
• General-purpose CPUs Graphical user
interface Internet Laptops Personal
computers Video games World Wide Web
By country
• Bulgaria Eastern Bloc Poland Romania
Soviet Union Yugoslavia
Timeline of computing
• before 1950 1950–1979 1980–1989 1990–
1999 2000–2009 2010–2019 2020–present
more timelines ...
Glossary of computer science
• Category
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Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646–1716) developed logic in a binary number system
and has been called the "founder of computer science".[14]
Charles Babbage is sometimes referred to as the "father of computing".[15]
Ada Lovelace published the rst algorithm intended for processing on a computer.[16]
The earliest foundations of what would become computer science predate
the invention of the modern digital computer. Machines for calculating xed
numerical tasks such as the abacus have existed since antiquity, aiding in
computations such as multiplication and division. Algorithms for performing
computations have existed since antiquity, even before the development of
sophisticated computing equipment.[17]
Wilhelm Schickard designed and constructed the rst working mechanical
calculator in 1623.[18] In 1673, Gottfried Leibniz demonstrated a digital
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mechanical calculator, called the Stepped Reckoner.[19] Leibniz may be
considered the rst computer scientist and information theorist, because of
various reasons, including the fact that he documented the binary number
system. In 1820, Thomas de Colmar launched the mechanical calculator
industry[note 1] when he invented his simpli ed arithmometer, the rst
calculating machine strong enough and reliable enough to be used daily in
an of ce environment. Charles Babbage started the design of the rst
automatic mechanical calculator, his Difference Engine, in 1822, which
eventually gave him the idea of the rst programmable mechanical
calculator, his Analytical Engine.[20] He started developing this machine in
1834, and "in less than two years, he had sketched out many of the salient
features of the modern computer".[21] "A crucial step was the adoption of a
punched card system derived from the Jacquard loom"[21] making it in nitely
programmable.[note 2] In 1843, during the translation of a French article on the
Analytical Engine, Ada Lovelace wrote, in one of the many notes she
included, an algorithm to compute the Bernoulli numbers, which is
considered to be the rst published algorithm ever speci cally tailored for
implementation on a computer.[22] Around 1885, Herman Hollerith invented
the tabulator, which used punched cards to process statistical information;
eventually his company became part of IBM. Following Babbage, although
unaware of his earlier work, Percy Ludgate in 1909 published[23] the 2nd of
the only two designs for mechanical analytical engines in history. In 1937,
one hundred years after Babbage's impossible dream, Howard Aiken
convinced IBM, which was making all kinds of punched card equipment
and was also in the calculator business[24] to develop his giant
programmable calculator, the ASCC/Harvard Mark I, based on Babbage's
Analytical Engine, which itself used cards and a central computing unit.
When the machine was nished, some hailed it as "Babbage's dream come
true".[25]
During the 1940s, with the development of new and more powerful
computing machines such as the Atanasoff–Berry computer and ENIAC,
the term computer came to refer to the machines rather than their human
predecessors.[26] As it became clear that computers could be used for more
than just mathematical calculations, the eld of computer science
broadened to study computation in general. In 1945, IBM founded the
Watson Scienti c Computing Laboratory at Columbia University in New
York City. The renovated fraternity house on Manhattan's West Side was
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IBM's rst laboratory devoted to pure science. The lab is the forerunner of
IBM's Research Division, which today operates research facilities around
the world.[27] Ultimately, the close relationship between IBM and Columbia
University was instrumental in the emergence of a new scienti c discipline,
with Columbia offering one of the rst academic-credit courses in computer
science in 1946.[28] Computer science began to be established as a distinct
academic discipline in the 1950s and early 1960s.[29][30] The world's rst
computer science degree program, the Cambridge Diploma in Computer
Science, began at the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory in
1953. The rst computer science department in the United States was
formed at Purdue University in 1962.[31] Since practical computers became
available, many applications of computing have become distinct areas of
study in their own rights.
See also: History of computing and History of informatics
Etymology
See also: Informatics § Etymology
Although rst proposed in 1956,[32] the term "computer science" appears in
a 1959 article in Communications of the ACM,[33] in which Louis Fein argues
for the creation of a Graduate School in Computer Sciences analogous to
the creation of Harvard Business School in 1921.[34] Louis justi es the name
by arguing that, like management science, the subject is applied and
interdisciplinary in nature, while having the characteristics typical of an
academic discipline.[33] His efforts, and those of others such as numerical
analyst George Forsythe, were rewarded: universities went on to create
such departments, starting with Purdue in 1962.[35] Despite its name, a
signi cant amount of computer science does not involve the study of
computers themselves. Because of this, several alternative names have
been proposed.[36] Certain departments of major universities prefer the term
computing science, to emphasize precisely that difference. Danish scientist
Peter Naur suggested the term datalogy,[37] to re ect the fact that the
scienti c discipline revolves around data and data treatment, while not
necessarily involving computers. The rst scienti c institution to use the
term was the Department of Datalogy at the University of Copenhagen,
founded in 1969, with Peter Naur being the rst professor in datalogy. The
term is used mainly in the Scandinavian countries. An alternative term, also
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proposed by Naur, is data science; this is now used for a multi-disciplinary
eld of data analysis, including statistics and databases.
In the early days of computing, a number of terms for the practitioners of
the eld of computing were suggested in the Communications of the ACM
—turingineer, turologist, ow-charts-man, applied meta-mathematician, and
applied epistemologist.[38] Three months later in the same journal,
comptologist was suggested, followed next year by hypologist.[39] The term
computics has also been suggested.[40] In Europe, terms derived from
contracted translations of the expression "automatic information" (e.g.
"informazione automatica" in Italian) or "information and mathematics" are
often used, e.g. informatique (French), Informatik (German), informatica
(Italian, Dutch), informática (Spanish, Portuguese), informatika (Slavic
languages and Hungarian) or pliroforiki (πληροφορική, which means
informatics) in Greek. Similar words have also been adopted in the UK (as
in the School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh).[41] "In the U.S.,
however, informatics is linked with applied computing, or computing in the
context of another domain."[42]
A folkloric quotation, often attributed to—but almost certainly not rst
formulated by—Edsger Dijkstra, states that "computer science is no more
about computers than astronomy is about telescopes."[note 3] The design and
deployment of computers and computer systems is generally considered
the province of disciplines other than computer science. For example, the
study of computer hardware is usually considered part of computer
engineering, while the study of commercial computer systems and their
deployment is often called information technology or information systems.
However, there has been exchange of ideas between the various
computer-related disciplines. Computer science research also often
intersects other disciplines, such as cognitive science, linguistics,
mathematics, physics, biology, Earth science, statistics, philosophy, and
logic.
Computer science is considered by some to have a much closer
relationship with mathematics than many scienti c disciplines, with some
observers saying that computing is a mathematical science.[29] Early
computer science was strongly in uenced by the work of mathematicians
such as Kurt Gödel, Alan Turing, John von Neumann, Rózsa Péter and
Alonzo Church and there continues to be a useful interchange of ideas
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between the two elds in areas such as mathematical logic, category
theory, domain theory, and algebra.[32]
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 de ned.[43]
David Parnas, taking a cue from the relationship between other engineering
and science disciplines, has claimed that the principal focus of computer
science is studying the properties of computation in general, while the
principal focus of software engineering is the design of speci c
computations to achieve practical goals, making the two separate but
complementary disciplines.[44]
The academic, political, and funding aspects of computer science tend to
depend on whether a department is formed with a mathematical emphasis
or with an engineering emphasis. Computer science departments with a
mathematics emphasis and with a numerical orientation consider alignment
with computational science. Both types of departments tend to make efforts
to bridge the eld educationally if not across all research.
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