Timeline for Why do Computer Science degrees contain a high proportion of mathematics?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
22 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Oct 11, 2019 at 2:35 | comment | added | A Simple Algorithm | Given the rule that "anything which calls itself a science probably isn't", the title of the field doesn't promise to solve anything here. Generally I'd say computer science departments support themselves by teaching programmers (basically technologists who operate machinery according to its manual), so they can pursue fun ideas like artificial intelligence and video games using whatever math methods are appropriate for mathematical formulations of their problems of interest. Occasionally they are able to completely annex the math topics by giving them cool new names. | |
| Oct 10, 2019 at 10:04 | comment | added | MichaelS | @AaronF: The truest sense of "engineer" is someone who uses their mind to create or design. A lot of the intro mechanical and computer engineering courses were wasted on me because I'd already had all that in software engineering. Software engineering includes establishing the exact problem, separating problem statements from proposed solutions that may suck, specifying exactly what product you will deliver to the client, preventing requirements creep, etc. It also includes working as a team, communicating with management, learning to accept stupid (err, different) practices on a project, etc. | |
| S Oct 9, 2019 at 23:38 | history | edited | Flyto | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| S Oct 9, 2019 at 23:38 | history | suggested | Mefitico | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Oct 9, 2019 at 22:16 | comment | added | David Richerby | @EvilDogPie There's very little maths or science in software engineering. I'm fairly sure that term came about because "engineer" sounds more rigorous than "builder". | |
| Oct 9, 2019 at 19:05 | review | Suggested edits | |||
| S Oct 9, 2019 at 23:38 | |||||
| Oct 9, 2019 at 15:23 | comment | added | jayce | @AaronF "Software Engineer" tends to pay better than "lowly programmer." So in principle, I agree with you... but on my resume, best believe i'm a "Senior Software Engineer" | |
| Oct 9, 2019 at 8:04 | comment | added | Luaan | @llama It's not that those applications shouldn't be high quality, reliable, safe and with warranties. It's just that they aren't, because we kind of don't know how to do that. But that's the whole software development environment; how would bridges look if they were the result of a sales guy selling something impossible to do, and even the technically possible compromise having tenth of the budget you would need, while ten different people push their own global architectural decisions in the middle of the project, with most people not really knowing they're building a bridge? | |
| Oct 8, 2019 at 16:30 | comment | added | llama | @Douwe hence the "most". Embedded systems, medical and the like are worthy of the title. Writing another app to create a market where one shouldn't exist and you ignore all safety concerns to sucker someone into throwing piles of money at you is not. | |
| Oct 8, 2019 at 15:07 | comment | added | Douwe | @llama Will you please consider what can happen when one of the physical components of a traffic lights system fails as opposed to what can happen when its software fails? Remember that in 2019 almost everything the "other" engineers build is controlled by software and the repercussions for failure are astronomic. Also, you might enjoy this read | |
| Oct 8, 2019 at 13:39 | comment | added | Jarrod Christman | Echo the others, computer engineering requires lots of mathematics, so the first sentence is odd. I'm an EE and regularly have computer engineers in my various classes. They take less math than an EE, but certainly a fair amount, even comparable to a computer science major. I think, as others mentioned, there is a misunderstanding of the term. Computer engineers are mostly EE's but with more of a focus on digital. | |
| Oct 8, 2019 at 13:00 | comment | added | Evil Dog Pie | Engineering is the application of scientific principals to practical problems. You need to be able to understand the science and do the maths in order to apply it. This is as true for computer science and software engineering as it is for physics and mechanical or civil engineering. If you're not doing maths and science in your computer work then you're probably a programmer rather than a software engineer. | |
| Oct 8, 2019 at 10:11 | comment | added | Aaron F | @llama me too. I've never understood why some computer programmers like to call themselves engineers. Maybe it's to make themselves feel better about their chosen profession? Or maybe it's to make others think that computer programming is difficult and complicated? I shall continue to stubbornly refer to myself as a computer programmer, and annoy self-proclaimed "software engineers" by calling them programmers as well. | |
| Oct 8, 2019 at 5:23 | comment | added | Mars | @llama I think the repercussions are field/industry dependent, as with other types of engineering! | |
| Oct 8, 2019 at 5:22 | comment | added | Mars | Nitpicking, but at least for my university, Computer Engineering is not Software Engineering. Echoing ShadowRanger, CE was much more hardware based | |
| Oct 8, 2019 at 2:32 | comment | added | ShadowRanger | @alephzero: Most Computer Engineering degrees I know of spawned off of Electrical Engineering (with more programming than pure EE, often some elements of Computer Science proper), which is heavily physics based. You may not need number theory, but you need a lot of math to handle the physics aspects of an Electrical or Computer Engineering degree degree. Software Engineering may require less math (and is barely engineering in the normal sense of the word), but computer engineering would not. | |
| Oct 8, 2019 at 2:31 | comment | added | llama | @alephzero what specifically do you mean by that? (I personally have a grudge against calling what most people do computer engineering, since the repercussions for failure are so much lower than other fields of engineering) | |
| Oct 8, 2019 at 0:09 | comment | added | alephzero | @CarlLeth Computer Engineering is "engineering" in the 19th century sense of the word, not the 21st. | |
| Oct 7, 2019 at 22:27 | comment | added | JounceCracklePop | I don't understand your first sentence. Do you really think "computer engineering" degrees are likely to involve less math? That does not fit my experience nor the common use of the word "engineering". | |
| Oct 7, 2019 at 15:41 | comment | added | Boaty Mcboatface | @penelope happens to best of us :) | |
| Oct 7, 2019 at 15:00 | comment | added | penelope | Oh gosh, left a comment to the main question, just to immediately notice that your first sentence is basically my comment, emphasis and all :D | |
| Oct 7, 2019 at 14:35 | history | answered | Boaty Mcboatface | CC BY-SA 4.0 |