From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.3 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,INVALID_MSGID autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 109fba,1042f393323e22da X-Google-Attributes: gid109fba,public X-Google-Thread: 1014db,1042f393323e22da X-Google-Attributes: gid1014db,public X-Google-Thread: 103376,1042f393323e22da X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public From: Michael Norrish Subject: Re: Any research putting c above ada? Date: 1997/05/19 Message-ID: #1/1 X-Deja-AN: 242374879 Sender: mn200@albatross.cl.cam.ac.uk References: <5le6vf$15p@bcrkh13.bnr.ca> <01bc6189$b074f500$LocalHost@xhv46.dial.pipex.com> <5li53d$irf@bcrkh13.bnr.ca> Organization: Computer Lab., University of Cambridge Newsgroups: comp.lang.c++,comp.lang.c,comp.lang.ada Date: 1997-05-19T00:00:00+00:00 List-Id: jsa@alexandria (Jon S Anthony) writes: > It is not at all about "theoretical stuff is 'bad'" (whatever that > might mean), it's that the "theory" is CS is basically redundant > with other disciplines, but in large measure, CS as a discipline > stresses this theory. So, CS - as currently constituted - is > largely irrelevant redundancy. This is simply not true. However one wants to value theoretical computer science as to usefulness, there are parts of it that simply do not get done elsewhere. Who else except computer scientists care about compiler construction and the attached theory of language parsing? Where else is the theory of communicating processes (things like CSP and CCS by Hoare and Milner respectively) going to live except in computer science? There's plenty of theoretical work out there, that is NOT just maths, or just engineering. My own work is theoretical (a formal model of C), and is not something I could do anywhere except in a computer science setting. > Well, the point is, the parts that aren't in mathematics (or cogsci > or philosophy or...) are engineering aspects centered on a new > _kind_ of engineering. So, just make the thing an engineering > discipline and let the theoretical stuff stay where it naturally > belongs. And just _use_ the results. If you are really interested > in these aspects - go be a mathematician, ... Maths departments tend not to be interested in semantics (denotational, operational &c), in programming language design, the theory of objects... As a theoretical computer scientist, I am sure that there is no better name for what my peers do. Michael.