2. Abstract Computer Science is a wide field, it is closely related to mathematics and reason, and it includes engineering and communications. Computer Science is interdisciplinary. The field of Computer Science includes its hardware and software. It includes the system analysis and design, the application and software. Computer Science also includes computer programming and operations of data centers. We also need to understand how the computer hardware and software functions and why they work. It is the computer literacy that makes us understand the social and ethical content of that which we call computing.
3. The World of Computer Science… Artificial Intelligence Robotics Computing Systems
4. Hollywoods Version… One computer scientist that we can all perhaps relate to is the beloved doc Brown from the famous movie series, Back to the Future from 1985. In these movies we get an idea about how computer science maybe something that could possibly effect someone in everyday life. Of course in this movie we have a moving machine, a super charged DeLorean that actually travels through time. It has the wonderful tagline about our main character, Marty McFly, played by Michael J. Fox who needs to go “back to the future” to fix something he did to prevent his parents from meeting thirty years earlier. Doc says, “He’s the only kid ever to get in trouble before he was born.” It is a funny and adventurous look at the world of computer science.
5. ROBOTICS Robotics is a fascination with the public that the movie studios love to entertain us with. There is actually a lot of science and technology that goes behind the design and manufacturing of robots. As much as we would like to see a robot develop human emotions such as the ones in the movies such as Walt Disney Pixar’s Wall-E and the 2004 release featuring Will Smith, I Robot, it is the intent that we continue to develop artificial “helpers” and a companion robot that can complete tasks that a human is unable to do on their own or to complete a task that has to be done over and over again.
6. Unimate The earliest example of an industrial robot worked on a General Motors assembly line starting as early back as 1961. Its job was to take over the dangerous task of welding die castings on to the auto body. This prevented human workers from possibly breathing in dangerous gaseous fumes or possibly even losing a limb. This is mainly what robots are intended for, to make our jobs as humans safer and easier.
7. Computer Science Theory Computer science is a theory that goes beyond the study of how computers evolved as machines to store, process and display data. The major sub disciplines of computer science have traditionally been architecture including the hardware and how it is integrated with the software, the second sub discipline, to form a computer system. The study of Algorithms, for example, is the term referred to when trying to create techniques within the computer that will enable it to perform tasks in a more efficient manner. Algorithms are like a well written recipe that one would follow to prepare a food dish properly. Within the computer science tradition, there are some nontechnical traditions to draw from, such as research in human-computer interaction with its focus on user-centered design, and computer supported cooperative work with its emphasis on developing technology to support groups as well as individual users.
8. Essentially long term, it is important to have a scientific understanding of how a person sitting still on a computer for hours could contribute to a long-term disability. This should be of interest to thousands of people that sit at a computer desk all day long. The risk to injury would be greater if not for the scientific study behind Ergonomics. Human Computer Reaction ~Ergonomics
