Computer science

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Computer science (or computing science) is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation, and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems. It is frequently described as the systematic study of algorithmic processes that describe and transform information. According to Peter J. Denning, the fundamental question underlying computer science is, "What can be (efficiently) automated?" Computer science has many sub-fields; some, such as computer graphics, emphasize the computation of specific results, while others, such as computational complexity theory, study the properties of computational problems. Still others focus on the challenges in implementing computations. For example, programming language theory studies approaches to describing computations, while computer programming applies specific programming languages to solve specific computational problems, and human-computer interaction focuses on the challenges in making computers and computations useful, usable, and universally accessible to people.

The general public sometimes confuses computer science with vocational areas that deal with computers (such as information technology), or think that it relates to their own experience of computers, which typically involves activities such as gaming, web-browsing, and word-processing. However, the focus of computer science is more on understanding the properties of the programs used to implement software such as games and web-browsers, and using that understanding to create new programs or improve existing ones.

For more information about Computer science, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.

News tagged with computer science

Of girls and geeks: Environment may be why women don't like computer science

Other Sciences / Social Sciences

Dec 14, 2009 | 3.4 / 5 (15) | 21

(PhysOrg.com) -- In real estate, it's location, location, location. And when it comes to why girls and women shy away from careers in computer science, a key reason is environment, environment, environment.

Search results for computer science

Exploring energy efficiency in multi-scale computing systems

Technology / Other

22 hours ago | 1 / 5 (1) | 0

The University of California, San Diego and nine other universities are members of a new research center charged with finding ways to improve the design of computing systems ranging from large data centers ...

Next-Generation Air Transportation System to Ultimately Succeed, Computer Scientist Predicts

Technology / Other

23 hours ago | 5 / 5 (1) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- The Next Generation Air Transportation System, known as NextGen, is due for national implementation in stages between now and 2018. "I am predicting ultimate success and a system that will provide a much ...

NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Resumes Observations

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Dec 16, 2009 | 4.6 / 5 (5) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers are receiving new science data from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter after the spacecraft's six science instruments resumed observations today.

Internet-based customized newscast has been cooking in the InfoLab at a US university for over three years

US university coding future of news

Technology / Computer Sciences

Dec 16, 2009 | 3.7 / 5 (3) | 0

Personalized newscasts culled from the Web and presented by digital avatars. Baseball stories written by computers using raw data.

Miracle light: Can lasers solve the energy crisis?

Technology / Energy

Dec 15, 2009 | 4.3 / 5 (12) | 3

Next year will mark the 50th birthday of the laser, one of the most productive and widely used mega-inventions of the last century. Scientists hope that 2010 also will see the launch of laser technology's greatest challenge: ...

New results from a terra-ific decade in orbit

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Dec 15, 2009 | 5 / 5 (1) | 0

December 18, 2009, marks the tenth year since the launch of Terra, one of NASA's "flagship" Earth observing satellites. But the decade is more than just a mechanical milestone. With each additional day and ...

World's first skeletal mount of Paluxysaurus jonesi reveals new biology

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

Dec 15, 2009 | 4.5 / 5 (11) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- The Early Cretaceous sauropod Paluxysaurus jonesi weighed 20 tons, was 60 feet long and had a neck 26 feet long, according to scientists who prepared the world's first full skeletal mount ...

Jules Verne, desperado?

Other Sciences / Other

Dec 15, 2009 | 3 / 5 (1) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Jules Verne (1828-1905) is often remembered as a 19th-century founder of science fiction, whose enthusiasm for invention fills his books — from the spacecraft in From the Earth to the Moon ...

Air Force grant to tighten online encryption

Technology / Computer Sciences

Dec 14, 2009 | 4 / 5 (1) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Computer scientist Rafael Pass is seeking new approaches to cryptographic security with a $600,000, five-year grant from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research.