The identity of computing has been fiercely debated throughout its short history. Why is it still so hard to define computing as an academic discipline? Is computing a scientific, mathematical, or engineering discipline? By describing the mathematical, engineering, and scientific traditions of computing, The Science of Computing: Shaping a Discipline presents a rich picture of computing from the viewpoints of the fields champions. The book helps readers understand the debates about computing as a discipline. It explains the context of computings central debates and portrays a broad perspective of the discipline. The book first looks at computing as a formal, theoretical discipline that is in many ways similar to mathematics, yet different in crucial ways. It traces a number of discussions about the theoretical nature of computing from the fields intellectual origins in mathematical logic to modern views of the role of theory in computing. The book then explores the debates about computing as an engineering discipline, from the central technical innovations to the birth of the modern technical paradigm of computing to computings arrival as a new technical profession to software engineering gradually becoming an academic discipline. It presents arguments for and against the view of computing as engineering within the context of software production and analyzes the clash between the theoretical and practical mindsets. The book concludes with the view of computing as a science in its own rightnot just as a tool for other sciences. It covers the early identity debates of computing, various views of computing as a science, and some famous characterizations of the discipline. It also addresses the experimental computer science debate, the view of computing as a natural science, and the algorithmization of sciences.
Cited By
- Nofre D (2023). “Content Is Meaningless, and Structure Is All-Important”: Defining the Nature of Computer Science in the Age of High Modernism, c. 1950–c. 1965, IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, 45:2, (29-42), Online publication date: 1-Apr-2023.
- Tedre M and Pajunen J (2022). Grand Theories or Design Guidelines? Perspectives on the Role of Theory in Computing Education Research, ACM Transactions on Computing Education, 23:1, (1-20), Online publication date: 31-Mar-2023.
- De Mol L and Bullynck M (2021). Roots of 'program' revisited, Communications of the ACM, 64:4, (35-37), Online publication date: 1-Apr-2021.
- Pears A, Barendsen E, Dagienė V, Dolgopolovas V and Jasutė E Holistic STEAM Education Through Computational Thinking: A Perspective on Training Future Teachers Informatics in Schools. New Ideas in School Informatics, (41-52)
- Peters A (2018). Students’ Experience of Participation in a Discipline—A Longitudinal Study of Computer Science and IT Engineering Students, ACM Transactions on Computing Education, 19:1, (1-28), Online publication date: 11-Jan-2019.
- Denning P (2018). Where to from here?, ACM Inroads, 9:4, (17-21), Online publication date: 1-Nov-2018.
- Rahimi E, Barendsen E and Henze I An instructional model to link designing and conceptual understanding in secondary computer science education Proceedings of the 13th Workshop in Primary and Secondary Computing Education, (1-4)
- Clear T (2018). The arbitrary nature of computing curricula, XRDS: Crossroads, The ACM Magazine for Students, 25:1, (56-59), Online publication date: 1-Oct-2018.
- Tedre M (2018). Computing as an evolving discipline, XRDS: Crossroads, The ACM Magazine for Students, 25:1, (18-21), Online publication date: 1-Oct-2018.
- Weidler-Lewis J, DuBow W and Kaminsky A Defining a Discipline or Shaping a Community Proceedings of the 2017 ACM SIGCSE Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education, (627-632)
- Denning P, Tedre M and Yongpradit P (2017). Misconceptions about computer science, Communications of the ACM, 60:3, (31-33), Online publication date: 21-Feb-2017.
- Tedre M and Denning P The long quest for computational thinking Proceedings of the 16th Koli Calling International Conference on Computing Education Research, (120-129)
- Clear T (2016). THINKING ISSUESComputer science education---, ACM Inroads, 7:2, (31-33), Online publication date: 16-May-2016.
- Misa T (2015). Computing is history, Communications of the ACM, 58:10, (35-37), Online publication date: 28-Sep-2015.
- Simon , Clear A, Carter J, Cross G, Radenski A, Tudor L and Tõnisson E What's in a Name? Proceedings of the 2015 ITiCSE on Working Group Reports, (173-186)
- Haigh T (2014). The tears of Donald Knuth, Communications of the ACM, 58:1, (40-44), Online publication date: 1-Jan-2015.
Index Terms
- The Science of Computing: Shaping a Discipline
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