What Is Computer Science?
Last Update: Sunday, 27 March 2022
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Assignment
Introduction
The purpose of this position paper is to give you an opportunity to
clarify your beliefs about what CS is, so that, as
we continue to discuss the topic in class, and as you continue to read
about it, you'll know where you stand—what your beliefs
are.
Later, when your beliefs have been informed by further
readings and by our discussions, you may wish to revise your
beliefs. But you can't revise a belief that you don't have (you can
only acquire new beliefs). So, here I am forcing you to
discover, clarify, and defend the beliefs that you
now have, by turning them into words and putting them on paper.
The Argument
Imagine that you are the newly-appointed Dean of the School of Science at the
University of X. In an attempt to
build up the rival School of Engineering, the newly-appointed Dean of
Engineering has proposed to the Provost (the boss of both deans) that the
Department of Computer Science be moved—lock, stock, and computer,
so to speak—to Engineering, for the following reasons:
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Science is the systematic observation, description, experimental
investigation, and theoretical explanation of natural phenomena.
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Computer science is the study of computers and related phenomena.
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Therefore, computer science is not a science.
(The Dean of Engineering has not yet argued that computer science
is an engineering discipline; that may come later.)
How do you respond to the Dean of Engineering's argument?
You may agree with it, or not (but there are several ways that might
happen; see below).
You should ignore political considerations:
You may suppose that the move from Science to Engineering involves no
loss or gain of money, prestige, or anything else, and it is to be done,
if at all, only on strictly intellectual grounds.
The Provost is eagerly awaiting your reply, and will abide by your
decision … if, that is, you give a well-argued defense of your
position.
Argument Analysis
To formulate and defend your position, you should:
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Say (i) whether you agree that
conclusion 3
logically follows from
premise 1
and
premise 2,
(whether or not you agree with them),
and say (ii) why you think that it follows or doesn't follow:
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If you think that
conclusion 3
doesn't follow, then
is there some (interesting, non-trivial) missing premise
that would make it follow?
(For a discussion of missing premises, see §2.9.3 of the book.)
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Say whether you agree with
premise 1
and say why you do or don't agree:
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Say whether you agree with
premise 2,
and say why you do or don't agree:
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If you thought that there were missing premises that validated
the argument,
then say whether you agree with them, and say why you do or don't
agree.
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If you think that the argument is logically invalid, then you might still
agree or disagree with
conclusion 3
independently of the reasons given
for it by
premise 1
and
premise 2,
(and any missing premises).
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If so, then say
whether you agree with
conclusion 3,
and say why you do or don't agree.
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It's also possible that you might neither agree nor disagree
with
conclusion 3.
Alternatively, you might
both agree and disagree with it.
For example, you might believe
that computer science is both a science and an engineering
discipline (or, alternatively, that it is neither).
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If so, then please give your reasons for this.
And, if you are unsure about any of your answers, try to be very
precise about why you are unsure and what further information
would help you decide.
g.
You might not agree with any of these ways to respond. However, I believe
that any other response can, perhaps with a bit of force, be seen to
fall under one of the above responses. But if you really feel that your
position is not exactly characterized by any of the above responses,
then please say:
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what your position is,
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why you believe it,
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and why you think it is not one of the above.
For general assistance on analyzing arguments, see §2.9 of the
book.
Ground Rules:
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Your answer should honestly reflect your beliefs (not
what you think the fictional Provost or Dean of Engineering wants to hear!).
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If you resort to a dictionary, textbook, article, website, etc., be sure
to say which one. Give as much detailed information as you can that
would assist someone else to locate the item by themselves. (See the
"How to Handle Citations"
section of my "How to Write"
website for a suggested way to do this.)
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Your position paper should be approximately
1 typed page and double-spaced (that is, about 250 words)
(not including any bibliographic citations).
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To help keep your paper short, you do not need any fancy
introductory paragraph; you can assume that your reader is
a fellow student in this course who has just done the same
assignment.
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If you write:
- 1 paragraph analyzing validity,
- 1 paragraph each analyzing the premises,
- and 1 paragraph analyzing the conclusion,
then you will have (more than) enough material.
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Please bring 5 copies to lecture on the due date.
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At the top of the (first) page, please put the following information:
- the title "Position Paper #1"
- your name
- the
course you are enrolled in
- the due date.
(The space taken up by this will not count against your total pages.)
DUE AT THE BEGINNING OF LECTURE, ONE WEEK FROM TODAY
Suggestions and Guidelines for Peer-Group Editing
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When you get into your small groups:
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introduce yourselves quickly,
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share copies of your papers with each other,
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and write each other's names on your paper
(so that we have a record of who peer-reviewed whom).
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Choose one paper to discuss first.
(Suggestion: Go in alphabetical order by family name.)
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The other people in the group might find it useful to imagine themselves
as members of a committee set up by the Provost to make a
recommendation. Their purpose is to try to help the author clarify his
or her beliefs and arguments, so that they will be able to make a
recommendation to the Provost on purely logical grounds (again: ignore
politics!).
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Start by asking the author to state (or read) his or her beliefs about
whether computer science is a science, giving his or her reasons
for those beliefs.
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Be sure that the author has discussed:
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the validity of the argument
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the truth value of
premise 1
(or their (dis)agreement with it)
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the truth value of
premise 2,
(or their (dis)agreement with it)
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the truth value of any missing premises (or their (dis)agreement with them)
- the truth value of
conclusion 3
(or their (dis)agreement with it)
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And, for each of the above, their reasons
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Any time you have a question, ask it. Here are some suggestions:
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Why did you say THIS rather than THAT?
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What did you mean when you said THIS?
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Can you give me an example of THIS?
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Can you give me more details about THIS?
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Do you think that THIS is always true?
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Why? (This is always a good question to ask.)
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How?
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The author should not get defensive. The committee members are friendly.
Critical, but friendly.
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Keep a written record of the questions and replies.
This will be useful to the author, for revision.
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After spending about 10 minutes
To the
instructor: Actually, some number n
of minutes close to 10 but less than or equal to m/s, where
m is the
total number of minutes in the class, and s is the total number of
students in the group.
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on the first paper, move on to the next, going back to
step 2, above, changing roles.
Spend no more than 15 minutes
per paper
(because you've only got about 45 minutes
at most). Perhaps one member of the group can be a timekeeper.
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At home, over the next week, please revise your paper to take
into consideration the comments made by your fellow students (that is,
your "peers"):
Perhaps defend your claims better, or clarify statements
that were misunderstood, etc. For help, see your instructor.
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At the top of the first page of your revision,
please put the following information:
- the title "Position Paper #1, 2nd draft"
- your name
- the course you are enrolled in
- the due date.
- Please staple copies of your first draft,
(with peer-editing comments, if any) to your second draft.
- Your second draft should be substantially different
from your first draft!
1–2 PAGE (250–500 WORD) REVISION, ONE COPY, TYPED,
DUE ONE WEEK FROM TODAY.
NO LATE PAPERS WILL BE ACCEPTED!
Copyright © 2022 by
William J. Rapaport
(rapaport@buffalo.edu)
http://www.cse.buffalo.edu/~rapaport/OR/pp1.html-20220327