Computer Science and Electrical Engineering

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Q. Electrical enineering is defined as "the branch of engineering science that studies the uses of electricity and the equipment for power generation and distribution and the control of machines and communication" Computer Science is defined as "the branch of engineering science that studies (with the aid of computers) computable processes and structures" There are courses such as Computer and Electronic Engineering which combine both fields of study. Other courses like Electronic Engineering with Software Enigneering. It seems that these two subjects do overlap in some areas. What is Computer Science, sure you are taught how to write programs and learn about computer hardware, but are you able to successfully design hardware after graduation. Electrical Engineering helps with the design of ciricuitary, integrated circuits and the works of the motherboard on a computer. Information Systems or Computer Systems are courses which are a mixture of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering. When you look at requirements for a degree in IT and related fields it usually says Computer Science or Electrical Engineering Bachelors required or related. So there must be some sort of similarity. Even better, there are some students here who study Computer Science, maybe they can clear up the difference between Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, Adam studies maths, and Ray studies some computer science course? What differentiates these two subjects? They are different as Computer Science concentrates primrarily on Software and Electrical Engineering more of the hardware side..

A. -Yes. In general, Computer Science is more about software, and Electronic Engineering more about hardware, but there is an overlap. It often depends on historical circumstances - in some cases Computer Science departments evolved from Electronic Engineering departments or never broke away from them, in other cases they evolved from Maths departments and Electronic Engineering was always a different department. A Computer Science department which evolved from, or is in a faculty with a Maths department is more likely to concentrate on the abstract side of computing than one evolved from or is joined with an Electronic Engineering department. Another phenomenon is that Electronic Engineers found it hard to recruit, while Computer Science departments, at least a few years ago at the time of the dot.com boom, had lots of recruits. So Electronic Engineering departments started putting on degrees that were more like Computer Science degrees to try and cash in on the boom. That is the case where I teach at Queen Mary, where the Electronic Engineering department teaches a couple of degree programmes which are really Computer Science degrees, but are taught by people in the Electronic Engineering department with no involvement from the Computer Science department. This caused quite a bit of ill-feeling in the Computer Science department. > What is Computer Science, sure you are taught how to write programs and > learn about computer hardware, but are you able to successfully design > hardware after graduation. Probably not. The tendency has been for Electronic Engineering departments to do more and more of the sort of stuff that used to be done in Computer Science departments (rather than the stuff they used to do on the lines of power generation and other heavy industrial applications), and for Computer Science departments to give less and less emphasis to hardware issues. It will depend on individual universities, so the best thing is to check on the universities you are interested in to see exactly what they do. But if your interest is more on designing hardware than on designing software, chances are you'd find what you want more on an Electronic Engineering degree than a Computer Science degree. > Electrical Engineering helps with the design of ciricuitary, integrated > circuits and the works of the motherboard on a computer. > Information Systems or Computer Systems are courses which are a mixture of > Computer Science and Electrical Engineering. "Computer Systems" probably does mean a degree which concentrates on lower levels of computing i.e. the stuff which actually interacts with the hardware, if not the hardware itself. "Information Systems" however, could mean something like librarianship or analysis of the flow of information in business i.e. it might be something very far from Electronic Engineering. Again, the best thing is to look at individual university websites and prospectuses for details, since they will vary from university to university. -Most Computer Science degrees are accredited by thr British Computer Society and the Institution of Electrical Engineers, however only some Electrical and Electronic degrees are accredited by the Bristish Computer Society and Institution of Electrial Engineers. The software and hardware career issue is questioable. It probably won't restrict the career options available. In the IT computing industry, many of the people have an undergraduate degree in maths, computer science, computer engineering, computer sytems, software engineering , information systems, electrical engineering and elecronic engineering and an increasing number have advanced degrees. There are many opportunities regardless of the degree, most of the degrees listed above overlap in some ways and skills are transferable. Computer Engineering and Design would probably involve a mixture of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering when designing complex ciricuits, chips and other components. Computer Architecture would be another area where most maths and scientific degrees in Computer Science and Electronic Engineering would be applicapble. When designing new instruction sets for processors companies like Intel and AMD require Computer Science or related degrees which most likley includes Electrical Electronic Engineering, Maths and so some extent Physics. Operating Systems and Networks could involve a combination of Computer Science and Electrical Electronic Engineering. Artifical Intelligence would probably place more emphasis on Computer Science rather than Electrical Electronic Engineering. So it probably does not matter too much whether you have a Computer Science or Electrical Electronic Engineering degree you will always have skills which are transferable.

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