₦airaland Forum

Computer Science vs. Computer
Engineering: What’s the
Difference?


A question I have gotten a lot lately has
to do with the differences and similarities
between Computer Science and Computer
Engineering. At the risk of over-simplifying
the differences, I have written this guide
to explain how Computer Science and
Computer Engineering are alike and how
they differ.



What Is Computer Engineering?
Computer Engineering is the marriage of
Computer Science and Electrical
Engineering. It focuses on computing in
all forms, from microprocessors to
embedded computing devices to laptop
and desktop systems to supercomputers.
As such, it concerns the electrical
engineering considerations of how
microprocessors function, are designed,
and are optimized; how data is
communicated among electronic
components; how integrated systems of
electronic components are designed and
how they operate to process instructions
expressed in software; and how software
is written, compiled, and optimized for
specific hardware platforms. Therefore,
computer engineers are electrical
engineers who specialize in software
design, hardware design, or systems
design that integrates both.






What is Computer Science?
Computer Science is the study of how
data and instructions are processed,
stored, communicated by computing
devices. A modern descendant of Applied
Mathematics and Electrical Engineering,
Computer Science deals with algorithms
for processing data, the symbolic
representation of data and instructions,
the design of instruction languages for
processing data, techniques for writing
software that process data on a variety of
computing platforms, protocols for
communicating data reliably and securely
across networks, the organization of data
in databases of various types and scales,
the emulation of human intelligence and
learning through computer algorithms,
statistical modeling of data in large
databases to support inference of trends,
and techniques for protecting the content
and authenticity of data. Therefore,
computer scientists are scientists and
mathematicians who develop ways to
process, interpret, store, communicate,
and secure data.





Overlap Between the Areas
Because both Computer Engineers and
Computer Scientists ultimately work with
data and attempt ultimately to harness
meaning from it, there is significant
overlap in coursework that students in the
two fields take, as well as in the careers
they pursue. This does not minimize the
distinctive nature of the two disciplines. It
simply acknowledges the fact that these
types of computer professionals find
context and purpose in similar kinds of
projects or in different aspects of the
same kinds of projects.



A Potentially Oversimplifying but Useful
Distinction
Both Computer Engineers and Computer
Scientists advance computing technology
and solve problems using computing
technology. If we consider computing
technology in terms of scale, Computer
Engineers operate often at the
microscopic and macroscopic ends of the
spectrum, whereas Computer Scientists
work in the middle parts of the spectrum.
More specifically, Computer Engineers
deal with the physics of semiconductor
electronics so that they may design
hardware from the integrated circuit level
(small), as well as with the integration of
hardware and software optimized to run
on it to realize complete, special-purpose
computing systems (large). Computer
Scientists write the software, design the
databases, devise the algorithms, format
the communications, and secure the data
that are processed by the hardware to
make the integrated system function.










A Concrete Example: An iPhone
Consider an iPhone. Apple employs both
Computer Scientists and Computer
Engineers to design each new version of
the iPhone. Computer Engineers (and
Electrical Engineers) designed the chips
that house the integrated circuits that
make the iPhone’s various components
(cell radio, screen, controls, memory,
microprocessor) function, and they figured
out how to get the various components
to work with each other. That involves
looking at the device at both the
microscopic level and the integrated
systems level. Computer Scientists wrote
the operating system that manages the
memory and concurrently running
applications, the apps in the app store
that run on top of that operating system,
the packing and unpacking of data into
packets for network communication and
the encrypting of data so that prying eyes
can’t see it. The computer scientists
provide the glue pieces that bring turn the
computer engineers’ beginning product –
the component designs – into the
computer engineers’ end product – the
device on which people text, browse the
web, and play Angry Birds.
From this example, it is easy to imagine,
with so much dependence on each other’s
functions for realizing a finished product,
why there is significant overlap in the
coursework Computer Engineers and
Computer Scientists take, and in the
career opportunities they pursue.












A Helpful Perspective on Computer
Engineering
I found the website http://www.ohio.edu/
eecs/undergraduate/documents/upload/
whatCpEsDo-better%20version.pdf

provides a particularly helpful description
of Computer Engineering that identifies
the kinds of jobs Computer Engineers
work, the companies that hire them, and
the salaries they earn.
That page begins with a helpful list of
specialization areas in Computer
Engineering. I have copied that list of
specializations here, but I have marked
with an asterisk (*) those in which
Computer Scientists also specialize. In all
cases of overlap, Computer Scientists
focus more on the software development
aspect of the specialization, and
Computer Engineers study the hardware
design and integration of hardware and
software needed to implement that
specialization.
Microprocessor and microcontroller
systems
Assembly language (*)
Coding, cryptography, and
information protection (*)
Distributed computing (*)
Computer vision and pattern
recognition (*)
Computer graphics and multimedia
applications (*)
Internet computing and wireless
networks (*)
Computer architecture and
embedded digital systems design
Network security and privacy (*)
Real-Time Systems (*)
VLSI, VHDL, and ASICS design
Computer internetworking and
Network Protocols (*)
Embedded software for real-time
microcontrollers (*)
Algorithms, compilers, and operating
systems (*)
Human-computer interaction (*)
That same website presents a number of
other interesting data on Computer
Engineering. For example, this table
expresses the relationships among
Electrical Engineering, Computer
Engineering, and Computer Science in
terms of the classes each major takes
and the percentage of those classes that
fall in the categories of hardware and
software.
You see the “computer science is
software and computer engineering is
hardware” theme play out once again in
this table. That is the easiest way to
distinguish the two fields. And yet, there
is enough of an overlap to ensure that
both kinds of students will find plenty of
opportunity in a wide range of careers in
the computer field.

I advise you stick to what you are doing, computer science and engineers get work easily on a 8.6 scale as at now but due to increase in demand for compE and compS i tell you in the next 4 years things will be better
I also advice you go 4 your masters in nigeria but studying abroad will be better hope it helps

Fabdedon:
computer science is better..in the engineering you study just the hardware part of it and how to fix and maintain it bt the science you study every thing about it both the software and also part of the hardware cos you get to make use of it..thank me later

Thanks you just saved a career

pls engineer jambites in the house which course is better between computer engineer nd computer science

adetwin:
ur location please? we wish to send you an engineer to fix it for u... contact: check our signature

Thanks gonna get in contact with u bt my pc is a BRIAN model

pls my pc doesnt load well, it doesn't bring out my apps icons it only brings d starting window icon pls help me

PrinceCEE: u were correct by saying that 'I' is singular.


Point of correction brother::::::::> Has and Have are present tense used for singular and plural nouns respectively while Had is the past tense of both.



Hope I ve cleared u

you are correct

[color=#000099][/color]
OUTRAGEOUS cant believe my eyes