The science of computing : shaping a discipline / author, Matti Tedre.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Tedre, Matti.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Computer science.

Physical Description:

xii, 280 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Boca Raton : Taylor & Francis 2014.

Summary:

"Preface "That's not computer science," a professor told me when I abandoned the traditional computer science and software engineering study tracks to pursue computing topics that I thought to be more societally valuable. Very quickly I learned that the best way to respond to such remarks was a series of counter questions about what exactly is computer science and why. The difficulties that many brilliant people had responding those questions led me to suspect that there's something deeper about that topic, yet the more I read about it, the more confused I got. Over the years I've heard the same reason--"That's not computer science"--used to turn down tenure, to reject doctoral theses, and to decline funding. Eventually I became convinced that the nature of computing as a discipline is something worth studying and writing about. Fortunate enough, the word "no" does not belong to the vocabulary of professor Erkki Sutinen, who became my supervisor, academic mentor, colleague, and friend. Throughout my studies in his group I worked on a broad variety of applied computing topics, ranging from unconventional to eccentric, yet in the meanwhile Erkki encouraged me to continue to study computing's disciplinary identity, and I ended up writing, in a great rush, a thesis on the topic. When my curiosity took me from the University of Eastern Finland to Asia and then to Africa for the better half of a decade, I kept on writing small practice essays on computing's identity"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Part I Introduction

Chapter 1 Introduction 3

1.1 Science, Engineering, and Mathematics 12

Part II Computer Scientists and Mathematicians

Computer Scientists and Mathematicians 19

Chapter 2 Theoretical Roots of Modern Computing 21

Chapter 3 Marriage to Mathematics 33

3.1 Cutting the Ties that Bind 34

3.2 Educating the Computer Scientist 41

Chapter 4 The Formal Verification Debate 59

4.1 Proofs Of Correctness 61

4.2 Texts Make No Mistakes 68

Part III The Fall and Rise of Engineering

The Fall and Rise of Engineering 87

Chapter 5 Engineering the Modern Computer 91

5.1 Roots of the Stored-Program Paradigm 92

5.2 Difference Between "Know-How" and "Know-That" 101

Chapter 6 Software Engineering to the Rescue 111

6.1 Software Crises 113

6.2 Engineering Solutions 120

Part IV The Science of Computing

The Science of Computing 141

Chapter 7 What's in a Name? 145

Chapter 8 Science of the Artificial 153

8.1 The Nature of Computing as a Science 155

8.2 The Fundamental Question 164

Chapter 9 Empirical Computer Science 175

9.1 How Do People in Computing Really Work? 178

9.2 Experimental Computer Science 184

9.3 Science of the Natural 194

Part V Conclusions

Chapter 10 Conclusions 205.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781482217698

1482217694

OCLC:

870289913