Computer science and engineering
An academic discipline combining the theory and methods of computer science with the engineering of computer hardware and software systems.
Computer science: The study of computation, algorithms, information, and computational systems. Provides the theoretical foundations for designing and analyzing computing systems.
Instruction set architecture: The programmer-visible specification of a processor’s instructions, registers, and execution behavior. Defines the boundary between compiled software and processor implementation.
Embedded system: A computer system built into a larger device to perform dedicated functions. Combines software and hardware under constraints such as size, power, and timing.
Computer engineering: An engineering discipline focused on designing computer hardware and integrated hardware-software systems. Overlaps closely but typically places greater emphasis on engineered computing systems.
Charles Babbage: A nineteenth-century English mathematician who designed mechanical general-purpose computing machines. His designs anticipated programmable computation before electronic computers existed.
Electrical engineering: The engineering discipline concerned with electricity, electronics, and electromagnetic systems. Supplies core methods for designing circuits and electronic hardware.
Compiler: A program that translates source code into another representation, commonly machine code. Compilers bridge high-level software and the instructions a processor executes.
Cloud computing: The delivery of computing resources and services over networks, typically from remote data centers. Applies system design at the scale of shared, distributed infrastructure.
Software engineering: The disciplined design, development, testing, and maintenance of software systems. Shares software methods while focusing less on computer hardware design.
Alan Turing: A British mathematician whose work established foundations of computation and helped decipher wartime codes. Formal models of computation underpin the discipline’s theoretical foundations.