Computer science and engineerings laying claim to a new discipline Oscar N. Garcia If engineering is to lay claim to the new computer

field, it needs to widen its perspective and regard the computer as more than a tool

The early mathematical aspects of what is to-day called computer

»science or ig ina ted from the use of com-puters as sophisticated

desk calculators to solve numerical problems [photo], first using scaling of integers in "fixed point' ' notation and later automatically handling the decimal point through routines or hardware. In those days, the primary role of the electrical engineer was to design a machine that could carry out these computations with the greatest affordable speed, reliability, and cost-effectiveness. Shortly after, the same logical processes for symbol manipulation that enabled computers to do fast arithmetic were used to great advantage for handling, sort-ing, and processing alphanumeric in-formation in the business world. This activity evolved into what has come to be known as data processing.

In the meantime, developments in computer programming languages and the proliferating view of the com-puter as an abstract object for the processing of information in the form of data structures began to create a more solid and theoretical founda-tion that partly justified the use of the word science to describe this disci-pline. The high cost of computers with complex software capabilities began to motivate the interactive sharing of computer resources in the form of a computer utility. No sooner had this move to time-share taken hold when users realized that, be-cause of advances in semiconductor devices and design techniques, the design and maintenance of the com-puter operating system and its soft-ware exceeded the cost of the machine. "Families" of computers— with a common instruction set archi-tecture over a wide range of perfor-mances—were developed to amortize

among many users the enormous cost of the software systems.

The computer designer could no longer ignore the need for hardware for virtual storage and for commu-nications with peripherals and users. The possibilities of running multiple programs in the same primary mem-ory by time-multiplexing the central processor in multiprogramming sys-tems also had to be considered. The union of hardware and software had taken place, and those with knowl-edge in one area and not in the other were only half literate.

A revolution then occurred, one which you as a student have wit-nessed: the same integrated circuit technology that lowered the cost of the large machines allowed the mar-keting of low-cost stand-alone com-puters, first with limited capabilities, and recently with extraordinary ver-satility in applications. Those micro-computer-based personal machines are now the distributed intelligence of computer nets spurred by the wide-band communications of satellites and local area networks.

In this marriage of disciplines be-tween computer engineering and computer science, students pioneer-ing the engineering profession have a very important stake, and their teach-ers have a great responsibility. Be-cause of the popularity of the com-puting field and its interdisciplinary nature, many factions are willing to lay claim to it. However, few are will-ing to carry the burden of committing resources to see its potential fully realized. To aggravate the situation, turf battles abound in the computer science departments of liberal arts colleges, where the know-how to han-dle the experimental and design as-pects of the discipline is not available.

Computer science, like many other disciplines that use the word science, is far from being all science. The

J3LX S 5 3LS

KXÎ3II£TC.L ìjumii.i m. Jtprji i;[;«i».'fìicirii;ir "SSW m

Computer science originated from the use of computers as sophisticated vacuum-tube desk calculators.

design and methodology of creating algorithms, their cost consideration, and the testing, reliability, and main-tainability of the systems are all as-pects that fall squarely into classical engineering concerns. However, if orthodox engineering is to lay claim to this new field, it needs to widen its scope. If the young electrical engineer uses the computer only as a tool and not as an integral part of a complex system that requires attention to its total design, the claim will not be firmly established. Only a serious, ag-gressive, and responsible attitude on the part of the engineering deans, supported by the concern of their stu-dents, can secure computing as an area of engineering. Compromises need to be made on all sides. Isola-tionism is detrimental to all parties, particularly to those engineering students who want to make computer science and engineering their field of endeavor.

About the author Oscar N. Garcia is professor and

chairman of the department of com-puter science and engineering at the University of South Florida, Tampa. Dr. Garcia is a fellow of the IEEE and was president of the IEEE Computer Society from 1982 through 1983. D

IEEE POTENTIALS · FEBRUARY 1984 0278-6648/84/0200-0017$1.00 © 1984 17