What Is Computer Science?

Summary

As we have seen, there are several different, but related, answers to the question "What is computer science?". Here is an outline summary of some of the answers.

Answers differ on:

1. Category:
   1. science vs. …
   2. (systematic) "study" vs. …
   3. engineering

2. Qualification ("kind" of "science" or "study"):
   1. 1. mathematical vs. …
      2. empirical

   2. 1. natural vs. …
      2. artificial

3. Subject matter:
   1. computers (+ related phenomena)
      • ∴ empirical, artificial?

   2. algorithms (+ related phenomena)
      1. or: procedures (+ related phenomena)

      2. ∴ natural?, mathematical?, experimental?

   3. information (+ related phenomena)
      • ∴ natural?, mathematical?, experimental?
   • These may be extensionally equivalent, depending on what the "related phenomena" are in each case, differing only on the "focus" or "point of view".

We'll discuss some (e.g., science vs. engineering, computers, algorithms (and procedures))—but not all (e.g., math vs. empirical vs. natural vs. artificial)—of these topics later in the semester. (Things not discussed are potential term-paper topics.) (Things discussed are potential final-exam topics, of course:-)