Why is Computer Science not a real science?
How is computing different from other kinds of engineering?
What is a liberal art?
I make bold to say that I never have despised anything belonging to erudition, but have learned much which to others seemed to be trifling and foolish. Some things are worth knowing on their own account; but others, although apparently offering no return for our trouble, should not be neglected, because without them the former cannot be thoroughly mastered.Didascalicum, Hugo of St. Victor, around 1120
Moore's "Law": Gordon Moore, co-founder of Intel, observed in 1965 that transistor density approximately doubles every 18 months. In rough terms, this means that the amount of computing power you can get for a fixed price doubles every 18 months. (Its not a "law", its an observation, but so far it has held remarkably well.)
If it takes 60 seconds to compute a photomosaic for Problem Set 1 today on a typical PC, estimate how long it will take cs1120 students in 2012 to compute the same photomosaic? How long will it take in 2015?
The MIT Instrumentation Lab had been designing software for the
Apollo onboard guidance system even before the word software
was invented. I still remember the first time I told my wife that I was in charge of
"Apollo Software". She exhorted me: "Please don't tell any of our friends!"
Some
Funny Things Happened on the Way to the Moon, Richard H. Battin,
1989.
I do not know when I have been so tantalized by anything, and should be
ashamed to say how much time I have spent upont it, in vain. These
Functional Equations are complete Will-o-the-Wisps to me. The moment I
fancy I have really at last got hold of something tangible and
substantial, it all receded further and further and vanishes again into
thin air...
Ada Byron, letter to Augustus De Morgan, 27 November 1841.
... Enough is known already of the diverse applications of computing to
recognize the birth of a coherent body of technique, which I call
computer science ... Whether computers are used for engineering design,
medical data processing, composing music, or other purposes, the
structure of computing is much the same ... "
George Forsythe, coining the term "Computer Science" in 1961.
(From
Ada,
the Enchantress of Numbers, by Betty A. Toole, 1998.)