Respond to the observation that computer science is the study of how to write computer programs. Include an example to illustrate your argument.
What will be an ideal response?
Many people are introduced to computer science when learning to write programs in a language such as C++, Python, or Java. This almost universal use of programming as the entry to the discipline can create the misunderstanding that computer science is equivalent to computer programming.
Programming is extremely important to the discipline-researchers use it to study new ideas and build and test new solutions-but like the computer itself, it is a tool. When computer scientists design and analyze a new approach to solving a problem or create new ways to represent information, they often implement their ideas as programs to test them on an actual computer system. This enables researchers to see how well these new ideas work and whether they perform better than previous methods.
For example, searching a list is one of the most common applications of computers, and it is frequently applied to huge problems, such as finding one name among the approximately 20,000,000 listings in the New York City telephone directory. A more efficient lookup method could significantly reduce the time that customers must wait for directory assistance. Assume that we have designed what we believe to be a "new and improved" search technique. After analyzing it theoretically, we would study it empirically by writing a program to implement our new method, executing it on our computer, and measuring its performance. These tests would demonstrate under what conditions our new method is or is not faster than the directory search procedures currently in use.
In computer science, it is not simply the construction of a quality program that is important but also the methods it embodies, the services it provides, and the results it produces. It is possible to become so enmeshed in writing code and getting it to run that we forget that a program is only a means to an end, not an end in itself.
You might also like to view...
Which of the following is a protocol used by bridges to allow multiple physical paths to exist between them?
a. spanning tree b. source routing c. source routing transparent d. all of the above
In CentOS 7, which command allows you to launch System Monitor?
A. system-monitor B. gnome-system C. gnome-system-monitor D. monitor-system
A program that can propagate without human interference is a _______
a. Virus b. Worm c. Trojan horse d. None of the above
If an English man page is not displayed automatically when you enter the man command, you can use the ____________________ option to display the English version of the man page.
Fill in the blank(s) with the appropriate word(s).