Computer Sciences

A new method to boost the speed of online databases

Hashing is a core operation in most online databases, like a library catalog or an e-commerce website. A hash function generates codes that replace data inputs. Since these codes are shorter than the actual data, and usually ...

Business

Computer scientists paint a picture of six decades of movies

From the sepia tones of a Coen brothers film set in the Dust Bowl to a child's red coat in "Schindler's List," filmmakers have long known the power of color in movies. Now, computer scientists have analyzed 60 years of films ...

Computer Sciences

Could an app let you know if a first date is just not that into you?

Could an app tell if a first date is just not that into you? Engineers at the University of Cincinnati say the technology might not be far off. They trained a computer—using data from wearable technology that measures respiration, ...

Computer Sciences

Making computer science research more accessible in India

Imagine that you are teaching a technical subject to children in a small village. They are eager to learn, but you face a problem: There are few resources to educate them in their mother tongue.

Telecom

Identifying a vulnerability in critical spacecraft networks

When NASA docks two spacecraft in orbit, timing is critical. Their movements must be precisely synchronized with each other to prevent catastrophic failure, which means the computer networks that control their thrusters must ...

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Computer science

Computer science (or computing science) is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation, and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems. It is frequently described as the systematic study of algorithmic processes that describe and transform information. According to Peter J. Denning, the fundamental question underlying computer science is, "What can be (efficiently) automated?" Computer science has many sub-fields; some, such as computer graphics, emphasize the computation of specific results, while others, such as computational complexity theory, study the properties of computational problems. Still others focus on the challenges in implementing computations. For example, programming language theory studies approaches to describing computations, while computer programming applies specific programming languages to solve specific computational problems, and human-computer interaction focuses on the challenges in making computers and computations useful, usable, and universally accessible to people.

The general public sometimes confuses computer science with vocational areas that deal with computers (such as information technology), or think that it relates to their own experience of computers, which typically involves activities such as gaming, web-browsing, and word-processing. However, the focus of computer science is more on understanding the properties of the programs used to implement software such as games and web-browsers, and using that understanding to create new programs or improve existing ones.

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