Computer Science as a Discipline

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Computer Science as a Discipline
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Science
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Computer Science

• Computer science is the study of computation,
  encompassing all facets of problem solving
  including
• the design and analysis of algorithms
• the formalization of algorithms as programs
• the development of computational devices for
  executing those programs
• Computer science shares common elements with
  natural sciences, including rigorous approach to
  understanding complex phenomena and solving
  problems.
• Computer science has been classified by some as
  artificial science, since the systems studied by
  computer sciences are largely designed and
  constructed by people.

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Computer Science Themes
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Subfields of Computer Science

• In Computer Science The Discipline Peter
  Denning identifies 12 major subfields of computer
  science
• here, we will see 14
• separate OS from Networks
• separate AI from Robotics
• The common themes of computer science that
  influence every sub-field
• hardware,
• software, and
• theory.
• Hardware usually relegated to Computer
  Engineering
• we still have
• firmware
• microcode

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Algorithms and Data Structures

• The study of methods for
• solving problems,
• designing and analyzing algorithms, and
• effective use of data structures in software
  systems
• Research potential
• new
• algorithms
• structures
• better (more efficient wrt time and space)
• interesting applications
• compression
• encryption
• evaluation of complexity
• proofs
• computability
• or non-computabilty
• NP-completness

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Architecture

• The design and implementation of computing
  technology
• the integration of effective hardware systems and
  
• the development of new manufacturing methods
• Research potential
• new architectures
• architectural improvements
• changing von Neumann machine?
• quantum
• optical
• nanotechnology
• perhaps just improving
• caching
• just in time
• pre-fetching
• hyper-threading

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Operating Systems

• The design and development of software and
  hardware systems for managing the components of a
  computer
• Research potential
• new OSes
• new or improved OS components
• file system
• caching
• synchronization
• threading
• system security
• peripheral management
• a replacement for an interrupt vector?
• interesting device drivers
• interesting re-configurations of Linux
• system analysis

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Computer Networks

• The design and development of software and
  hardware systems for
• controlling,
• operating, and
• managing the components network of communicating
  computers
• Research potential
• protocols
• network engineering
• wireless
• mesh networks
• switcing theory
• network management
• network security
• performance analysis
• network computing (distributed)

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Software Engineering

• The development and application of methodologies
  for designing, implementing, testing, and
  maintaining software systems
• Research potential
• methodologies
• replacement for waterfall, extreme, agile?
• requirement analysis and specifications
• capture
• track
• design
• xxx-based design
• modeling tools UML
• interesting models
• implementation
• rapid development
• configuration management
• verification
• testing methodologies
• bug management
• requirements
• operations and maintenance

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Artificial Intelligence

• The study and development of software agents that
  solve complex problems through seemingly
  intelligent behavior
• Research potential
• contributions to the theory
• symbolic AI
• logic-based inference
• expert systems
• semantic nets
• search
• probabilistic systems
• Bayes theory
• probabilistic nets
• biologically inspired systems
• neural networks
• genetic algorithms
• swarm intelligence
• immune systems
• machine learning
• natural language processing
• applications

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Robotics

• The study and development of hardware systems
  exhibit human-like characteristics
• The software side deals with
• control
• manipulators
• actuators, effectors
• perception
• seeing
• hearing
• speaking, and
• reasoning and thinking as well
• but these are dealt with in AI
• Research potential
• control theory
• pattern recognition
• Hidden Markov Models
• sensing
• vision
• speech
• tectile

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Programming Languages

• The design and implementation of languages that
  allow programmers to express algorithms so that
  they are executable on computers
• Research potential
• new paradigms
• logic
• O-O
• agent-based
• new languages
• improvements to compilers
• grammars
• rapid development languages

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Database Information Retrieval

• The organization and efficient management of
  large collections of data
• development of methods searching, and
• recognizing patterns in the data
• Research potential
• new search algorithms
• new paradigms
• relational
• O-O
• pattern recognition
• statistical analysis
• clustering
• data mining
• search engines

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Graphics

• The design of software and hardware systems for
  representing physical and conceptual objects
  visually such as with
• images
• video, or
• three-dimensional holograms
• Research potential
• 2D and 3D modeling
• OpenGL replacement?
• shadowing
• light
• perspective
• animation
• color management
• compression techniques
• image,
• video,
• sound

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Human-Computer Interactions

• The design, implementation, and testing of
  interfaces that allow users to interact more
  effectively with computing technology
• Research potential
• new interfaces
• hyper-text
• holography
• virtual reality
• replacement for
• mouse
• windows
• menus
• speech understanding
• speech synthesis
• GUI toolkits
• usability test methodology

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Computational Science

• Explorations in science and engineering that
  utilize high-performance computing, such as
• modeling complex systems or
• simulating experimental conditions
• Research potential
• new models
• modeling methodology
• parallel algorithms
• simulation environment
• analytical tools

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Organizational Informatics

• The development and study of management process
  and information systems that support technology
  workers and organizations
• Research potential
• more CIS or MIS than CS
• models of organizations
• improvement to models
• workflow
• risk management
• investment management

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Bioinformatics

• The application of computing methodologies and
  information structures to biological research,
  such as the characterization and analysis of the
  human genome
• Computational Biology
• another term
• Research potential
• AMGEN!
• anything to do with genetics research
• applications in biotechnology
• genetic engineering

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Resources

• ACM
• http//www.acm.org/
• Wikipedia
• http//www.wikipedia.com/
• Library
• http//www.library.csuci.edu/subjects/compsci/
• Any good CS department at a research university
• for example http//www-cs.stanford.edu/research/
• I will post this information on our Web site
• http//www.cs.csuci.edu/

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Theory - Turing Machines

• Alan Turing developed the concept of a computing
  machine in the 1930s
• A Turing machine, as his model became known,
  consists of a control unit with a read/write head
  that can read and write symbols on an infinite
  tape
• Despite their simplicity, Turing machines can be
  designed to compute remarkably complex functions.
  In fact, they are generally thought to be as
  powerful (in theory) as any possible computer.
• Finding out what they can do is half the fun of
  studying computability. Finding out what they
  can't do is the other half.Try
  http//wap03.informatik.fh-wiesbaden.de/weber1/tur
  ing/tm.html

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Turing Machines

• Why is such a simple machine (model) of any
  importance?
• It is widely accepted that anything that is
  intuitively computable can be computed by a
  Turing machine
• If we can find a problem for which a
  Turing-machine solution can be proven not to
  exist, then the problem must be unsolvable

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Artificial Intelligence

• In 1950 Alan Turing predicted that by the end of
  the 20th century, the intelligence exhibited by
  programmed machines would rival that of humans