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Most programming already didn’t use computer science.
So you dont use programming languages? learning how to use them was like all of computer science’s actual classes? Lets just start with the first class, you dont use classes, vectors, arrays, forloops, while, if else, etc? cout?
I dont understand what that means, the degree itself literally covers the fundamnetals, ehats realprogramming? (I dropped and graduated with it years ago)
When I think about computer science as a field of science I think about things like algorithmic complexity. I believe things like what you mentioned should be taught in general education prior to university (or, like calculus, as an optional elective) and are only covered because you need to know those basics to cover the advanced things.
It’s really difficult to come up with other examples of this that aren’t contrived because computer programming is the only field I know of that’s like this. I might compare it to architects needing to know how to use tools, but I don’t think they actually cover that. Maybe a better example might be engineers needing to know how to use tools before designing machines. Either way, things like how to use tools aren’t covered in those classes and they’re either not taught or taught as shop classes (or maybe they are, I didn’t go into those fields). Things like for loops I view as learning how to make a computer operate. Like how someone who drives a car doesn’t need to know how to fix an engine but a mechanic does. But learning about computer science is more like learning about what car designers do than what mechanics do. A lot of programming work doesn’t need that low level of attention to detail.
Like I said before, it doesn’t hurt, but it’s not super critical. A classic example is something like learning how to make a linked list. This is an early example of an assignment that starts to get into the actual computer science stuff because you start to talk about the comparisons between different data structures, like linked lists versus array lists. So in university you may be thinking “damn I’m gonna be making list implementations all the time” but you quickly learn, no, you’re not. The standard library of your language already has one and it’s worlds better than anything you made. Plus, 99% of the time you’re gonna want an array list, at least in the types of work I do.
I hope that helps make it more clear what I’m trying to say. I’m not saying computer programming is easy or doesn’t require skills.
Computer science is much more than programming. Did you cover other topics like formal logic, finite state machines, computability, crytography, machine learning etc?
Why are you arguing with me and the dude that said programming didnt use computer science when computer science encompasses programming…
Sure they teach that, but its not the first thing you’re thought the first two main classes for into are programming?
I’m a computer scientist and work in academia. Programming stuff usually takes like ~10% of my time, while the rest is theory and more like social sciences, i.e. studying human behaviour when working with machines etc. So even if I were to replace all my actual programming with vibe coding, I still would be a computer scientist because to me, coding is just a tool to achieve a bigger purpose. I think you are more referring to the job of a software dev, which can be someone that studied CS, but not necessarily.
Computer science has always been separate from software engineering.
In my mind:
- Computer science: Theoretical. Deals with algorithms, complexity and such.
- Software engineering: Practical. Deals with whatever PM has written in Jira tickets.
Both are important in their own right.
I wish I could’ve gotten a software engineering degree
Computer science is basically the study of software engineering, because computer engineering means hardware, which has grown into a separate discipline that computer science only touches on
Programming is writing code for the ticket, architecture is designing the system that gets written into tickets, and software development is the whole process
But all these disciplines grew faster than language, so really the titles are whatever you want them to be
Computer science is basically the study of software engineering
That’s not at all true if you ask me. Computer science is the study of data and computation, on a theoretical level. Software engineering is not theoretical at all, but very practical.
People always talk about it in relation to programmers, but what about us non-programmers that have been able to code things only becuase of chatgpt?
I have some python, sysadmin, and computer security knowledge. I actually obtained the security+ cert a few years ago.
I do not work in tech anymore, and chatgpt has helped me so much, by basically coding stuff for me to do random work tasks that I was either unqualified to do or didn;t have the time to do.
I’m working on a physics project, and my simulator suits my purposes and produces reliable results. And I learned a teeny bit about coding building it.
What’s the largest program, in line count (wc -l will be close enough, or open the file in Notepad++ and scroll to the end), that you’ve created this way?
I just checked and it’s 278.
That’s perfectly fine though. And I say that as a professional dev. The problem is when people assume you can actually build an entire software/service architecture of any complexity just through vibe coding.
Currently LLMs are great for helping me pick out the curtains or even to help me assemble some furniture, but I would NEVER let them build the entire house, if that makes sense.
Sure, I get it. Once my business is in a more profitable place I’ll bring someone on to fix up the code, but for now it’s more than enough.
Once my business is in a more profitable place I’ll bring someone on to fix up the code
AKA: technical debt. I actually approve of this approach when you’re testing the market and don’t have any paying customers. Where it gets ugly is when customers start placing trust in your product, trust that might be costly if your code fails, and management doesn’t budget the resources to actually fix up the code. I was very glad to leave the place that was doing this…
