For Aspiring Computer Scientists
A Chance for You to Know What I Got Into!
Well, I cannot say that I am a computer scientist although I graduated as one. I never really experimented that much, except when I was programming/troubleshooting. That’s when I go full experimental mode pushing buttons until I work what want.
The cool thing is, computer science is not a 7-headed dragon. It is 8-headed. But nothing is too hard that cannot be learned. It might just take a little bit more time. My objective here is to help people understand what is, and what is not computer science. What are most likely subjects one is going to face through the course since every university has its own view of what computer science must teach, will diverge from one place to another, but I am trying to draw the baseline.
Therefore, computer scientists find processes to understand the world by performing calculations and analysing their own calculating processes to understand if they are viable or not.
I might even trip while trying to draw this, but I hope it will give you a basic understanding of what it is so you can decide if you will pursue this understanding. I did, and I am not sure if I would suggest as I good idea. So I will leave it for you to decide with at least more grounds than what I had. Back then I just wanted to make games. Something that I am not doing right now. Is that bad? Not necessarily, the objectives changed, though now I know it is not about programming only.
Etymology
I have a strong belief that when we are studying something, we need to understand the origin of the words we are using. We have two words, one is somewhat easier to understand, and the other is much more complicated.
Compute
The verb “to compute” comes from the Latin “computer” — and suddenly this article became much funnier to Portuguese speakers (“puta” can be roughly translated to “whore”, “com” can be roughly translated to “with”…) — which roughly means “calculate”. No wonder the first machines that we had were essentially fancy calculators.
Some say the Abaqus was the first computer ever invented. It is debatable because, in fact, it is a machine that helps people calculate. It requires a little bit more manual work, but it has some computer elements, like memory, which is pretty much the side on which the rings are placed.
We did not answer what exactly it means to calculate! It seems really straightforward because we had all those mathematical classes, but does it really boil down only to perform those arithmetic operations? What if calculating actually means to logically derivate outcomes? Seems much cooler and much broader. With this definition, imagining a logical chain of events is also calculated. Maybe not even derivating, but also analyzing the non-obvious properties of a system.
Science
Here is where things will get bananas because defining science is really complicated. Theoretically, Science comes from the Latin “Scientia” which is something that could mean “Knowledge” or “Understanding”. When we look at the english language though, “Knowledge” and “Understanding” can be looked upon as their own etymology!
Science can be looked upon in many forms. We can look at it as a process, which will boil down to the research processes and the scientific method. Designing and applying tests to verify hypotheses when applicable, reading academic articles and advancing the subjects to the next level.
It can also be looked upon as a baseline or product that supports some sort of work confusing itself with the concepts of technology. Like when you are presenting some sort of cool product to people. Science is like something you can grab with your hands or even grasp and explain to people how something works.
Defining Science is still a challenge, though. Even if you pick up Wikipedia’s definition it can have its own controversies and maybe if you bunch up philosophers in the same room they can argue over and end up in a fistfight trying to give the best definition possible of Science. This is useless, right? How can we use a word for which the concept is so complicated to grasp? Well, let’s focus on what is important, we know that science has something to do with knowledge, and sometimes with method. Some people would even say that science is about questions, but I’d take one step further, it is about answering those questions.
I will keep this definition, even if it is not perfect. Science is the activity of answering questions to broaden our knowledge about the world. I rather see science as a process than a product. That said we can move over to the next step of this Etmology to combine both words in the subject.
Then Computer Science Is
Taking all that etymology is consideration, and combining both words Computer Science could either be:
- Performing calculations to understand the world
- Understanding what can be calculated and how to calculate
When I was in the university, I saw both paths. Although I saw most people taking the first. Computational thinking is all about performing heavy calculations with the most silly of solutions, but sometimes with the only one. The computational idea is: I know how to calculate for 1, now I just need to repeat the same process for all the other 18209318231923númeroGrandePraCaralho cases. Fortunately, I generated my own hook to talk about the second case.
Can we just repeat the same process for all the other cases? In other words: Can we calculate that? Because sometimes the number that is grande para um caralho gets bigger and it is practically impossible to calculate it in sufficient time. Yes, it is not only about whether there is a process or not to calculate something but also if that calculation is viable. If you are going to take 1000 years to calculate something, what is the point in doing it?
Then not only do we have two paths but the second permeates the first. Therefore, computer scientists find processes to understand the world by performing calculations and analysing their own calculating processes to understand if they are viable or not. That falls like a glove over the definition of Algorithm (derived from Al-Khwarizmi) which is the set of steps or instructions needed to calculate something.
What to Expect in a Comp-Sci Course?
As I mentioned before, usually computer science is about finding the answers by calculating instead of trying other forms of analysis. The first thing that you have to expect is Calculus. Specifically, something that is called “Numeric Analysis”. This is very close to what applied mathematicians do, but a computer scientist evaluates the accuracy of the calculations, not the nature modelling.
The second and most important thing is Graph Theory. This special part of math is awesome and it is a big twist from everything that we learn before university. Graph Theory is important because machines are modelled through Graphs, and when I say graph, do not imagine those charts that evaluate one parameter in the function of another. Graphs are like objects and connections between them. In the end, they are understood over the set theory, but they are the keys to understanding Turing Machines, which we can assume is a good definition for computers.
Now, depending on your university, and maybe a little bit on you, there will be the chance to learn the processes of building machines, and how they work. Like, electricity wise. Where does the signal go to, what is it like storing a signal, and these things that blend with engineering? You can deepen yourself in algorithms, the ways to resolve already known problems and what are the problems that are still open in the academy, or you can just go to the world and become an expert in modelling and calculating processes.
Was this a perfect definition of computer science? I have no idea. I defined it a lot according to my experience, and looking back to the course that I had. I might be wrong on that because anecdotal evidence is far from the truth, but I guess it was a good reflection on it.
-Fortunate Computation!
