Expert Advice Required

[Yeet]

Technically this is a project, but it homework too because I need help. 

My teacher for English class makes us research about a topic and then a few months later to present said topic to the class. One of the requirements needed would be an expert on the topic, someone that I don't know but is well informed on said area. Coincidentally, mine is on Computer Science, or more on the software components of it, a topic that I thought would be good but then realized it's kind of broad. Either way, I gotta stick to this because dedication is 100% lit. 

What I would need would generally be on what you would think Computer Science really is, and how your job, hobby, or anything that's related to software would be like (essentially how it works, the cool, easy, difficult, and boring parts of it). I would be able to use this information to confirm or possibly change some information that I have acquired about the subject, and I would just really like to know, since your boy really likes these things. 

I thank you in advance for your aid (if you put some pretty cool things), and if you need more detail I will post more (if I can, which would be probably). Thank you. 

[Mordred]

Interesting request I am surprised no one replied to this thread. So lets get started, as you stated conputer science is an incredibly broad field of study. Most tend to think it involves the PC, your laptop or phone.

Yet nothing is further from the truth. The reality is that every circuit in existence relies on conputer science which can be described most accurately as the science of computation. This would include such devices as an abacus. We today tend to think of it as just electronic devices but those are just modern examples where the art of computing is applied.

A more accurate descriptive is that computer science is the study of information processing. This encompasses a huge history of aids to information processing that far exceeds the modern electronic era. So first we start with A process is a sequence processes of steps. Each step changes the state of the world in some small way, and the result of all the steps produces some goal state. A procedure is a descriptive application of a process. The steps required to produce the desired outcome. The outcome can be literally anything including baking a cake or manufacturing of any item.

Any complex problem can under information processing be broken down into smaller easier to accomplish tasks to get the final result. Boolean logic is a good example of such a process. Indeed in order to develop a program one must take a very complex task and break that task down into smaller steps.

This should provide a direction for your report. While I wouldn't consider my diploma in Computer science as being an expert on the field. I apply the lessons taught in computer science (the information processing, procedures to arrive at an outcome) fundamental to every task I perform in everyday existence. This list includes getting dressed in the morning. 

One may think its a simple matter to get dressed but that task requires numerous steps to complete. It does one no good to put on your pants before you put on your underwear lol.

This is really the art taught in computer science, the breakdown of a task into smaller tasks to accomplish a goal. In essence it is the study of algorithms. So what is an algorithm?  Informal definition:  a step-by-step procedure which solves (all instances of) some specific problem. This should be the focus of your report.

ps my Resident expert status applies to topics of physics, though arguably mathematics and lanquage itself can be thought of as an algorithm and information processing. They certainly involve a series of steps to solve a specific problem even if the problem is information exchange.

(Hope that helps)

Edited November 21, 2017 by Mordred