lew (06/15/82)
Methinks Andy doth protest too much.
bcw (06/16/82)
Re: Computer "science" From: Bruce C. Wright @ Duke University It seems to me that since the root of "science" simply means "knowledge" (hence the motto of the Naval Academy "ex scientia tridens" -- "from knowledge, sea power"), there is no reason for any of the "-science" disciplines (computer science, political science, ...) to apologize for their use of the term. This doesn't mean that *any* of them follow the Baconian world view (for want of a better term) like most of the "established" sciences such as physics. Computer science seems to divide into two parts, one which is closely allied with mathematics and one which is simply engineering under a different label. Most of what is meant by the term falls exclusively under the latter label, but I see no reason why it doesn't deserve the label "science." Bruce C. Wright @ Duke University
jrc (06/18/82)
All this discussion on the (mis)nomer "Computer Science" for the particular discipline in which we all play some part seems like a waste. I would think that the majority of us realize that the discipline which we in North America like to call Computer Science certainly includes many aspects which can be (and are) studied quite independently of the existence of computing machinery. Perhaps the most reasonable solution to the controversy would be to adopt the standard name used by the most of the rest of the world for our discipline: Informatics, or possibly Information Science. This would seem to better capture the nature of our study, and avoid the implication that our only interest is in computing machines. The case for the name Informatics boils down to the same argument as the one for adopting the Metric system: communication and standardization with the rest of the world. Informatics, Information Science, Informatik, Informatique, - every place has a better name for it than us. Jim Cordy CSRG, U. of Toronto
laurir (06/21/82)
I agree about the utility of the term "information science" to describe what we do. The consulting firm for which I work calls itself an "information engineering" concern, to emphasize that they apply information science to real-world problems. -- Andrew Klossner, Information Engineer, Knowlogy
davidson (06/23/82)
To me the term Informatics refers more to Computer Engineering and Digital Communications Engineering than to the more theoretical branches of Computer Science, e.g., Automata Theory, Complexity Theory, etc. But is is very useful when you want to blur the distinction between computing and communications technology. The term Information Science, by the way, was preempted some time ago by the people who study signal transmission, holography, and other phenomena in which Shannon's definition of information is used. Unfortunately, this use of the term information clashes with the computer science definition of information. Oh well. Greg Davidson