What is computer science actually like?

What is the BTech in computer science and engineering course like?

• Background: I will be studying this course in India and my first year is to start within few weeks. Questions: 1) What does this course really aims at? 2) What does this term Computer PROGRAMMING means ? 3) What does this term Computer SCIENCE means ? 4) How are the above two different ? (I may deduce the answer for it if what explained to me good) 5) What are some other term in this field, that should be known beforehand ? 6) In actuality, what do we people learn - do we learn languages or something else that makes us able to code in those language ? Whats the actual scenario ? 7) On which topics should one focus the most ?

• Answer:

  1) Computer Science and Engineering is a broad subject covering the theory and practice of Computer Science. A well rounded course should give you a good grounding in both of them. Expect theoretically intensive areas of study as well as big lab components. In you final years, you should have a choice of what topics you wish to study. Graduates also have to complete a project and undergo industrial training in order to meet the course requirements. 2) Computer programming involves the preparation of programs in one or more computer languages which can be compiled and executed by a computer. Software is a broad term which also includes programs. Everything that you use through computer hardware is software. 3) Computer Science concerns itself mostly with the theoretical aspect of computers and the problems which can be solved through them. It originated from Mathematics and even now has deep mathematical foundations. Many areas are totally indistinguishable from Maths. Expect to study Algorithms, Automata theory, Compilers etc. 4) It should be clear now that programming is the practical application of ideas which originate in Computer Science. The two are closely interlinked and there are many topics which have been well studied in Computer Science but have still not been achieved in reality because the programming task is too difficult. 5) Irrespective of which course you study, knowing buzzwords never helps. Being interested in your field of study is one thing, showing off by dropping jargon all over the place is another. 6) The actual scenario depends on the institute/college you will be studying this course. The IITs stress more on the foundations and thus courses like Algorithms, Automata theory etc are compulsory. However in many colleges people just study a whole bunch of programming languages. 7) One should focus on all the topics and let interest develop. In the end all credits in a semester have to be cleared and a good CGPA ( Cumulative Grade Point Average) is necessary for better prospects after college.