dwrowley@watrose.UUCP (David W. Rowley) (03/02/86)
What does the future hold for Computer Science ?
------------------------------------------------
I am a fourth-year undergraduate at the University of Waterloo, and am
doing a survey looking into what people think the future holds for the
Computer Science profession. I would appreciate it if you would take
some time to give your thoughts on the following questions. A summary
of responses will, of course, be posted.
1. What type of software development environments do you foresee ?
2. Will the majority of programs be written in standard procedural
languages, such as 'C', Pascal, etc. (Algol derived languages)
or will new programming methodologies such as Smalltalk, Prolog,
Data Flow and functional programming become dominant ?
3. Will software become more reliable ? Will program verification
rise to a point where it is usable in reasonable sized software
projects ? Will there be professional responsibility ?
4. Many programmers say that most of their time is spent worrying about
syntax errors, undeclared variables, and other 'picky details'.
If development environments such as syntax-directed editors and
other programming tools become popular, what will programmers
spend most of their time doing ? (realistically)
5. Will the Computer Science profession continue to grow at its current
rate, or will the need for programmers decrease as tools become more
and more powerful ? Is there a limit to the amount of computing in
the world that 'needs to be done' ?
6. The field of Artificial Intelligence is embodying knowledge from
various disciplines in the form of expert systems. Will programmers
ever be replaced by 'thinking machines' or will they always rise
to use the 'tools' currently available (is a thinking machine a tool
or something more ?)
7. The fields of AI and Graphics are currently 'in vogue' right now.
What will be the areas of concentration in the future ?
8. The majority of software is currently produced in North America.
The Japanese are spending a considerable amount to become leaders
in both Fifth Generation Software and Hardware. Will North America
settle for being #2 or will the States always be ahead ?
I would also be interested to hear any other opinions related to this
subject. I am more interested in how PEOPLE in the profession will be
affected, rather than what the technology will be like.
Thanks in advance,
David Rowley
University Of Waterloo
dwrowley@watmath.UUCP