Chapter 3: What is Computer Science?
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What is Computer Science?
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2
Research Areas of Computer Science (CS)
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2.1
2.2
2.3
2.4
2.5
2.6
2.7
2.8
2.9
2.10
2.11
2.12
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Christian Jacob
Theoretical Computer Science
Programming Languages
Computer Structures
Operating Systems
Pattern Recognition
Database Systems
Communication Systems
Artificial Intelligence
Computer Graphics
System Simulation
Computers and their Environment
Computational “X”
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New Frontiers of Computing?
27
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Learning the Computers´ Languages
28
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Conjuring the Spirits of the Computer …
29
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What is Computer Science?
What is Computer Science?
1
What is Computer Science?
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Christian Jacob
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What is Computer Science?
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What is Computer Science?
Christian Jacob
What is Computer Science?
to compute: (French computer or Latin computare; as COM-, putare ´reckon´)
Computer Science = Science of how to Calculate ???
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What is Computer Science?
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What is Computer Science?
Christian Jacob
What is Computer Science?
to compute: (French computer or Latin computare; as COM-, putare ´reckon´)
Computer Science = Science of how to Calculate ???
computer:
1. a person who computes or makes calulations (originally, well-trained mathematicians
performing complex computations to set up logarithmic and trigonometric tables in the
18th century)
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What is Computer Science?
What is Computer Science?
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Christian Jacob
What is Computer Science?
to compute: (French computer or Latin computare; as COM-, putare ´reckon´)
Computer Science = Science of how to Calculate ???
computer:
1. a person who computes or makes calulations (originally, well-trained mathematicians
performing complex computations to set up logarithmic and trigonometric tables in the
18th century)
2. a usually electronic device for storing and processing data (usually in binary form),
according to instructions given to it in a variable program1
1. The Concise Oxford Dictionary, Ninth Edition
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What is Computer Science?
What is Computer Science?
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Christian Jacob
What is Computer Science?
to compute: (French computer or Latin computare; as COM-, putare ´reckon´)
Computer Science = Science of how to Calculate ???
computer:
1. a person who computes or makes calulations (originally, well-trained mathematicians
performing complex computations to set up logarithmic and trigonometric tables in the
18th century)
2. a usually electronic device for storing and processing data (usually in binary form),
according to instructions given to it in a variable program1
Computers are machines for the processing of information:
- storage
- retrieval
- analyzation
-generation
- transformation
-…
1. The Concise Oxford Dictionary, Ninth Edition
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What is Computer Science?
What is Computer Science?
Christian Jacob
Computer Science
=
Science of Processing Information by Computers
=
Informatics
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Research Areas of Computer Science (CS)
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What is Computer Science?
Christian Jacob
Research Areas of Computer Science (CS)
Theoretical CS
Programming Languages
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Research Areas of Computer Science (CS)
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What is Computer Science?
Christian Jacob
Research Areas of Computer Science (CS)
Theoretical CS
Programming Languages
Communication Systems
Operating Systems
Computer Structures
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Research Areas of Computer Science (CS)
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What is Computer Science?
Christian Jacob
Research Areas of Computer Science (CS)
Theoretical CS
Programming Languages
Communication Systems
Operating Systems
Computer Structures
Computers & their Environment
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Research Areas of Computer Science (CS)
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What is Computer Science?
Christian Jacob
Research Areas of Computer Science (CS)
Computer Graphics
Theoretical CS
System Simulation
Database Systems
Programming Languages
Communication Systems
Operating Systems
Computer Structures
Computers & their Environment
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Research Areas of Computer Science (CS)
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What is Computer Science?
Christian Jacob
Research Areas of Computer Science (CS)
Computer Graphics
Artificial Intelligence
Computational “X”
Theoretical CS
System Simulation
Database Systems
Pattern Recognition
Programming Languages
Communication Systems
Operating Systems
Computer Structures
Computers & their Environment
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Research Areas of Computer Science (CS)
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What is Computer Science?
Christian Jacob
Research Areas of Computer Science (CS)
New Frontiers …
Computer Graphics
Artificial Intelligence
Computational “X”
Theoretical CS
System Simulation
Database Systems
Pattern Recognition
Programming Languages
Communication Systems
Operating Systems
Computer Structures
Computers & their Environment
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Research Areas of Computer Science (CS)
2.1
What is Computer Science?
Christian Jacob
Theoretical Computer Science
Automata Theory
Formal Languages
Grammars
Theoretical CS
Computability
Coding Theory
Complexity
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What is Computer Science?
Research Areas of Computer Science (CS)
2.2
Christian Jacob
Programming Languages
Modern programming languages and concepts
Procedural …
Functional …
Rule-based …
Object-oriented Programming
Grammars
Visual programming
Programming
Languages
Theoretical
CS
Syntax analysis
Genetic programming
Software Engineering
Compilers
Interpreters
Soft computing:
Debuggers
Code optimization
- neural networks
- fuzzy systems
- evolutionary algorithms
Efficient Algorithms
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Research Areas of Computer Science (CS)
2.3
What is Computer Science?
Christian Jacob
Computer Structures
Multi-processing systems
Massively parallel computing architectures
New Computer Architectures
Computer
Structures
Theoretical
CS
Alternative Computing
Environments
Distributed computer architectures
Fault-tolerant computing systems
Massively Parallel Computer Architectures
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Research Areas of Computer Science (CS)
2.4
What is Computer Science?
Christian Jacob
Operating Systems
Quasi-Parallel Computation
Computational Processes
Time-shared Processing
System Processes
Multi-Threaded Processing
Operating
Systems
Theoretical
CS
Multi-User Processing
Resource Allocation
Synchronisation
Resource Sharing
Object-oriented Distributed Control
Multiprocessor and Network Configurations
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Research Areas of Computer Science (CS)
2.5
What is Computer Science?
Christian Jacob
Pattern Recognition
Image Analysis
Computer Vision
Data Mining
Voice Recognition
Theoretical
CS
Pattern
Recognition
Speech Recognition
Knowledge Processing
Speech Understanding
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Research Areas of Computer Science (CS)
2.6
What is Computer Science?
Christian Jacob
Database Systems
Information Storage and Retrieval
Distributed Database Systems
Data Mining
Database
Systems
Theoretical
CS
Sorting
Searching
Scientific Database Management
Electronic Trading
Workflow Management
E-commerce
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Research Areas of Computer Science (CS)
2.7
What is Computer Science?
Christian Jacob
Communication Systems
SIMD Machines
Simple Input Multiple Data
Design and Evaluation of
MIMD Machines:
Multiple Input Multiple Data
Communication Networks
Communication
Theoretical Systems
CS
Performance evaluation
Analytical Simulation
Measurement Techniques
Unconventional Computer Architectures
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Research Areas of Computer Science (CS)
2.8
What is Computer Science?
Christian Jacob
Artificial Intelligence
Machine Learning
Knowledge and Reasoning
Uncertain Knowledge and Reasoning
Communicating
Perceiving
Acting
Planning
Theoretical
CS
Artificial
Intelligence
Robot Control
Fuzzy Logic
Neural Networks
Alternative “Programming” Paradigms
Evolutionary Algorithms
Symbolic Computation
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What is Computer Science?
Research Areas of Computer Science (CS)
2.9
Christian Jacob
Computer Graphics
Scientific Visualization
Rendering Techniques
Virtual Reality
Theoretical
CS
Computer
Graphics
Modelling of 3D Scenes
Animation
Computer Games
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What is Computer Science?
Research Areas of Computer Science (CS)
2.10
Christian Jacob
System Simulation
Simulation in Science and Engineering
Discrete Simulation
Continuous Simulation
Stochastic Simulation and Modeling
System
Theoretical
Simulation
CS
Multi-Level Methods
Self-Organizing Systems and Parallel Computation
High-Performance Programming Techniques
Numerical Simulation of Fluids
Parallel Finite Elements
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Algorithms for High-Performance Computers
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Research Areas of Computer Science (CS)
2.11
What is Computer Science?
Christian Jacob
Computers and their Environment
Human-computer interaction
Theoretical
CS
Computers
& their Environment
Interface design
Design of “intelligent” computers
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Research Areas of Computer Science (CS)
2.12
What is Computer Science?
Christian Jacob
Computational “X”
Computational Biology, Bioinformatics
Computational Physics
Computational Mechanics
Theoretical CS
Computational
“X”
Computational Chemistry
Computational Mathematics
Symbolic Computation
Computer Algebra
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New Frontiers of Computing?
3
What is Computer Science?
Christian Jacob
New Frontiers of Computing?
Quantum Computing
DNA Computing
Evolutionary Computing
Agent-based, Distributed Computing
Massively Parallel Computing
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Learning the Computers´ Languages
4
What is Computer Science?
Christian Jacob
Learning the Computers´ Languages
I always worked with programming languages because it seemed to me that
until you could understand those, you really couldn´t understand computers.
Understanding them doesn´t really mean only being able to use them.
A lot of people can use them without understanding them.
Christopher Strachey (1916-1975)1
1. Christopher Strachey was the first leader of the Programming Research Group (PRG), part of the Oxford University Computing Laboratory (OUCL),
founded in 1965. He was the first Professor of Computation at Oxford, succeeded by Tony Hoare in 1977 after his untimely death. With Dana Scott he
founded the field of denotational semantics, providing a firm mathematical foundation for programming languages.
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Conjuring the Spirits of the Computer …
5
What is Computer Science?
Christian Jacob
Conjuring the Spirits of the Computer …
We are about to study the idea of a computational process.
Computational processes are abstract beings that inhabit computers.
As they evolve, processes manipulate other abstract things called data.
The evolution of a process is directed by a pattern of rules called a program.
People create programs to direct processes.
“In effect, we conjure the spirits of the computer with our spells.”1
1. H. Abelson and G. J. Sussman, Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs, MIT Press, 1991.
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