• Simulation6@sopuli.xyz
    39·
    3 months ago

    Depends on the context. When my company proposes me to a client for work I am, but oddly during my yearly performance review I am just some smuck who programs.

  • 1rre@discuss.tchncs.de
    651·
    3 months ago

    If you want to know how computers work, do electrical engineering. If you want to know how electricity works, do physics. If you want to know how physics works, do mathematics. If you want to know how mathematics works, too bad, best you can do is think about the fact it works in philosophy.

  • wuffah@lemmy.worldEnglish
    20·
    3 months ago

    If a C- is enough to pass Analysis of Algorithms, then a Computer Science degree can make me a Computer Scientist. :P

    • Corbin@programming.devEnglish
      3·
      3 months ago

      The typical holder of a four-year degree from a decent university, whether it’s in “computer science”, “datalogy”, “data science”, or “informatics”, learns about 3-5 programming languages at an introductory level and knows about programs, algorithms, data structures, and software engineering. Degrees usually require a bit of discrete maths too: sets, graphs, groups, and basic number theory. They do not necessarily know about computability theory: models & limits of computation; information theory: thresholds, tolerances, entropy, compression, machine learning; foundations for graphics, parsing, cryptography, or other essentials for the modern desktop.

      For a taste of the difference, consider English WP’s take on computability vs my recent rewrite of the esoteric-languages page, computable. Or compare WP’s page on Conway’s law to the nLab page which I wrote on Conway’s law; it’s kind of jaw-dropping that WP has the wrong quote for the law itself and gets the consequences wrong.

      • colmear@discuss.tchncs.de
        2·
        3 months ago

        I‘d honestly be interested where you are from and how it is in other parts of the world. In my country (or at least at my university), we have to learn most of what you described during our bachelors. For us there is not much focus on programming languages though and more about concepts. If you want to learn programming, you are mostly on your own. The theories we learned are a good base though

        • Corbin@programming.devEnglish
          1·
          2 months ago

          I’m most familiar with the now-defunct Oregon University System in the USA. The topics I listed off are all covered under extras that aren’t included in a standard four-year degree; some of them are taught at an honors-only level and others are only available for graduate students. Every class in the core was either teaching a language, applying a language, or discrete maths; and the selections were industry-driven: C, Java, Python, and Haskell were all standard teaching languages, and I also recall courses in x86 assembly, C++, and Scheme.

  • billwashere@lemmy.worldEnglish
    9·
    3 months ago

    I have been coding since I was 10 years old. I have a CS degree and have been in professional IT for like 30 years. Started as a developer but I’m primarily hardware and architecture now. I have never ever said I was a computer scientist. That just sounds weird.

    • NewOldGuard@lemmy.mlEnglish
      2·
      3 months ago

      Yeah you’d really only say it on the theoretical side of things, I’ve definitely heard it in research and academia but even then people usually point to the particulars of their work first

  • QuizzaciousOtter@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    5·
    3 months ago

    I mean, I am applying various kinds of science but I’m not actually doing any science so I’m not thinking about myself as a scientist. What I do is solving problems - I’m an engineer.