Is Computing A Science Or An Engineering Discipline?

Q: Is computing a science or an engineering discipline? Please could you expand on any answer given

A: -The University of York's (England) Department of Computer Science certainly used to offer its under-graduates the option of choosing whether to take their degree as a Bachelor of Science (BSc) or a Bachelor of Engineering (BEng). My understanding is that this was because of the nature of what was taught. The engineering implications required something extra... -The answer is... "Computing" is a science. -Personally, I don't regard an activity as a genuine science unless it is disinterested truth-seeking. By that criterion, "practical" disciplines like medicine and engineering are arts, not sciences. Mathematics and Physics are true sciences. There are many ways of classifying various sorts of knowledge. Some knowledge is more empirical, and some more analytical. Some is precise, and some is "fuzzy". A few centuries back, all knowledge disciplines were described as branches of philosophy. What we now call Physical Science was then known as Natural Philosophy. Much of what are now regarded as the Social Sciences were then thought of as branches of Moral Philosophy. Back then, the word "science" didn't yet have the prestige it does today, and was simply used to mean "knowledge" or "lore". Words are human inventions. We use them in the ways we find most convenient under the constantly changing conditions of life. Maybe you'd profit by posting your question to a newsgroup on semantics.

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