Thread: computer sccience

I am currently studying in a college and would like to choose a course for furthering my studies. I am interested in computer security and would like to know how a computer works as well. However, i am not very interested in games or software development. I am more interested in writing security codes ..etc. I am also interested in getting to know how a computer works and networking as well.

So, which course suits me best, is it computer science or computer security?

you may be more interested in computer engineering, as computer science and computer security will both deal heavily with software development.

The different degrees can vary a lot from school to school, IMO. The computer engineering degree at my school is almost purely electronics, and it's very low-level electronics, too. It's not really "understanding how a computer works" in my opinion. It sounds to me like the OP doesn't have a lot of experience with any of these disciplines, and I think once he took a few courses he'd probably have a better understanding of exactly what he's asking and how his particular school defines all the disciplines. My recommendation is to find a few classes that count towards any of the possible degrees, and use those classes to really be sure what you're interested in.

Hi all,

My suggestion would be to look at an IT type degree. At my Uni it was called Computer Information Systems. That's where the networking, sys-admin, and security stuff was taught. They also had a few programming classes as a requirement.

you may be more interested in computer engineering, as computer science and computer security will both deal heavily with software development.

So does computer engineering.

I agree with crowe. If you are not interested in software development, then go for an IT degree.

What are the differences between IT courses and software engineering?

IT is about using software, and software engineering is about making them.

How about talk to someone in the department at your school?

I'd also suggest SE, because we all know CS students can't program

CS means computer science or computer security?

If you mean computer science, i dont think so, i think they know in and out of the computer

Computer Science is more about theoretical things, software engineering is about practical software development, and computer engineering is a bit of hardware and a bit of software engineering.

Originally Posted by cyberfish

Computer Science is more about theoretical things, software engineering is about practical software development, and computer engineering is a bit of hardware and a bit of software engineering.

Every school has its own interpretation, but historically -

Electronics Engineers design the chips themselves, from the gate level on up
Computer Engineers design the hardware from the chip level up, and also do extensive work on the firmware (BIOS)
Control Engineers design larger systems that use computers as control elements.
Network Engineers design networking architectures that interconnect systems
Software Engineers design the OS and applications

All the above fall under the broad category of Computer Science. However, at most schools, what they teach in CS is more properly called Software Engineering or Systems Engineering, although they will usually touch at least briefly on the others. Also, the above categories are very malleable. Individual engineers will likely work in more than one of the above areas, e.g. writing the BIOS requires knowledge of the hardware, the chips and to some extent the details of the internal implementation of the circuitry. It also is obviously software.

Originally Posted by zacs7

SE is much, much more than just writing software.

I'd also suggest SE, because we all know CS students can't program.

That's mostly true from what I've seen. This even occurs at the faculty level. I don't know how different it is from any other degree until you really get into the "real world". I know many electrical and computer engineering students that know gobs of theoretical stuff yet can barely makeup some simple circuits.

I guess with an IT school you are geared the 2 or so years for doing 1 thing, succeeding in the work place, whereas with a more traditional university degree you are training more to understand the subject from a more deep scientific level but probably lacking a lot of hands on experience.

Either way you choose I would say it doesn't matter. I find my education comes 10% from school, and the rest from work and hobbyist experience. No school can teach you near everything or expose you to many subjects, that's on you to explore.