Transcript Computer science in a nutshell

Computer Science
in a Nutshell
Eugene Fink
www.cs.cmu.edu/~eugene
[email protected]
Computer science is …
the study of the theoretical
foundations of information
and computation, and of practical
ways of their implementation and
application in computer systems.
Computer science is …
the
of the mathematical,
• Astudy
science
algorithmic, and system-design
• About creation, storage, and
principles
underlying
effective
delivery of information
information processing.
• Focused on artificial means
of information processing
… and is not…
• Owning a computer
• Browsing the web
• Using Microsoft Office
• Tinkering with hardware
• Writing programs
Great things about
computer science
• Rapid historical development
• (Relatively) plentiful funding
and employment
• A lot of opportunities to
realize your skills and talent
Careers
• Software industry
- Engineering
- Research
• Academia
- Teaching
- Research
• Wall Street
- Software engineering
- Quantitative analysis
Work in academia
• Teaching
• Developing and evaluating
new algorithms and systems
• Writing papers
• Supervising projects
• Academic “service”
Education
• B.S. – Bachelor of Science
(about 4 years)
• M.S. – Master of Science
(about 2 years)
• Ph.D. – Doctor of Philosophy
(about 5 years)