Published on: Mon Sep 26 2016
“Computer science is no more about computers than astronomy is about the stars” – Dijkstra, or maybe not. Something is wrong with the quote. The original quote states telescope, not stars. Astronomy is completely about the stars. as·tron·o·my əˈstränəmē/vnoun “the branch of science that deals with celestial objects, space, and the physical universe as a whole”. Choosing to keep stars, the meaning changes and implies computer science is completely about computers. This is funny because computers are not stars at all. Computers are built by other people. “Computer Science … computers” and “Star Science … stars”. Now, imagine an astronomer (Star Scientist) studying the stars. Looking out with a telescope, recording the photons. Imagine a computer scientist doing that. They are recording all of the screens. The computers are built by computer engineers. The software responsible for working in concert with the users is built by a software engineer. But the poor Computer Scientist believes to be recording this field of ‘stars’ (Computers).