Welcome on the computer sciences website
Information technology involves an extremely broad area of knowledge, probably as broad as all the experimental sciences, and the tools used in each of its component domains (compilation, cryptology, computer graphics, etc.) are as different as those used in condensed matter physics and cell biology. However, all the branches of I.T. share a certain number of concepts: algorithms, programs and machines.
Like mathematics, I.T. is a modelling language used by the other sciences. For example, a domain as ancient as grammar took on new life in the mid-20th Century when it was realised that it should be possible to use the grammar of a language to define an algorithm to show whether a sentence is correct or not in that language. Similarly, languages developed to model distributed systems are now used to describe how a cell functions. More generally, I.T. has introduced a new form of rigour into the description of natural and artificial phenomena, by attracting attention to the importance of the choice of the language in which these phenomena are described.
Some aspects of I.T. now form part of the knowledge that a gentleman should have, and the inability to use word processing or a web browser is often likened to a form of illiteracy.
Similarly, the ability to write a program to test an idea, a knowledge of basic algorithms the complexity in time of the most common problems, knowing the difference between a secure and an unprotected communication, being able to name the different parts of a computer and having a basic understanding of how networks are organised all form part of the general knowledge of civil service and research engineers today.
Some aspects of I.T. now form part of the knowledge that a gentleman should have, and the inability to use word processing or a web browser is often likened to a form of illiteracy.
Similarly, the ability to write a program to test an idea, a knowledge of basic algorithms the complexity in time of the most common problems, knowing the difference between a secure and an unprotected communication, being able to name the different parts of a computer and having a basic understanding of how networks are organised all form part of the general knowledge of civil service and research engineers today.