computer science

Introduction & Top Questions
Development of computer science
Algorithms and complexity
Architecture and organization
Computational science
Graphics and visual computing
Human-computer interaction
Information management
Intelligent systems
Networking and communication
Operating systems
Parallel and distributed computing
Platform-based development
Programming languages
Security and information assurance
Software engineering
Social and professional issues

References & Edit History Related Topics

Images

A blue flash-memory USB drive plugged into the side port of a black laptop computer.

A line graph illustrating Moore's law, showing the exponential increase in the number of transistors on computer processors from 1970 to 2005, with key Intel processors labeled along the curve.

Brain cancer; magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)

At a Glance

computer science summary

Quizzes

computer chip. computer. Hand holding computer chip. Central processing unit (CPU). history and society, science and technology, microchip, microprocessor motherboard computer Circuit Board

Computers and Technology Quiz

Related Questions

How are local area networks different from wide area networks?
How can graph algorithms represent cities highways and social networks?
How did FORTRAN and COBOL serve different programming needs?
How did assembly language make computer programming easier?
How did early time-sharing systems allow multiple users to share one computer?
How did graphical user interfaces replace line-edited computer interactions?
How did magnetic disk storage lead to databases and information retrieval systems?
How did the transistor change computer hardware?
How do algorithms and data structures work together in computer software?
How do artificial intelligence and intelligent systems aim to perform tasks associated with human intelligence?
How do bridges and gateways connect computer networks?
How do computer scientists measure an algorithm’s time and memory needs?
How do databases and data warehouses support organizations that collect large amounts of data?
How do linked lists use pointers to organize data in memory?
How do network protocols such as TCP/IP allow different computer systems to communicate?
How do supercomputers use parallel processing for big-data scientific problems?
How does Boolean algebra help engineers design computer circuits?
How does an assembler translate an assembly-language program?
How does binary search reduce the number of items that must be checked?
How does computational science use simulations and mathematical models to study scientific problems?
What role did linking loaders play in the development of software engineering?
What social and legal issues arose as computer software became widely used?
When did computer science become an independent academic discipline?
Which companies pioneered and popularized graphical user interfaces?
Why are graphical user interfaces important in human-computer interaction?
Why are security and information assurance important for protecting data and privacy?
Why did electrical circuits make binary digits useful for computer data?
Why did time-sharing systems become important in the 1960s?
Why do computational scientists turn continuous equations into discrete calculations?
Why do computers represent information with zeros and ones?
Why was programming in machine language difficult and unreliable?
Who are the most well-known computer scientists?
Is computer science used in video games?
How do I learn computer science?
What is algebra?
What is a computer?
Who invented the computer?
What can computers do?
Are computers conscious?

Science Mathematics

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Engineering LibreTexts - Introduction to Computer Science

computer science

Written by

Geneva G. Belford

Professor of Computer Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Coauthor of Pascal.

Geneva G. BelfordAll

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Britannica Editors

Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....

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Last updated

Nov. 11, 2026 •History

Computer architecture deals with the design of computers, data storage devices, and networking components that store and run programs, transmit data, and drive interactions between computers, across networks, and with users. Computer architects use parallelism and various strategies for memory organization to design computing systems with very high performance. Computer architecture requires strong communication between computer scientists and computer engineers, since they both focus fundamentally on hardware design. At its most fundamental level, a computer...

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