Computer Science BSc

What is Computer Science Despite the name Computer Science is not really a science of computers at all Computers are quite remarkable electronic devices but even more remarkable is what they can be made to do simulate the flow of air over a wing manage communication over the Internet control the actions of a robot synthesize realistic images play grandmaster-level chess and on and on Indeed the application of computers in activities like these has affected most areas of modern life What these tasks have in common has little to do with the physics or electronics of computers what matters is that they can be formulated as some sort of computation This is the real subject matter of Computer Science computation and what can or cannot be done computationally In trying to make sense of what we can get a computer to do a wide variety of topics come up There are however two recurring themes The first is the issue of scale how big a system can we specify without getting lost in the design or how big a task can a computer handle within reasonable bounds of time memory and accuracy A large part of Computer Science deals with these questions in one form or another In the area of programming languages and methodology for example we look for notations for describing computations and programming methodologies that facilitate the production of manageable and efficient software In the theory of computation area we study resource requirements in time and memory of many basic computational tasks The second theme concerns the scope of computation Computers were originally conceived as purely numerical calculators but today we tend to view them much more broadly Part of Computer Science is concerned with understanding just how far computational ideas can be applied In the area of artificial intelligence for example we ask how much of the intelligent behaviour of people can be expressed in computational terms In the area of human-computer interaction we ask what sorts of normal day-to-day activities of people might be supported and augmented using computers Some Computer Science courses are offered in the evening to allow part-time students to pursue our programs Introductory courses and some higher-level courses are offered in the summer

Duration: 13

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