computer science

I´m learning the programming language scala and wonder how you guys felt about learning how to code? Currently I´m trying to write a tail recursion to square a number without using multiplication. Is it normal to find that hard at the beginning?

>>8737448
It's normal for most wannabe coders to realize they aren't autistic enough and give up, yes.

I want to do it in college, but my math base is awful because I didn't give a shit about school about two~four years ago. Now I'm fucked.
Also Python is fun so far.

>>8737448
read the scala red book if you aren't already, it's good

Well, I do not see myself giving up. It´s just pretty dry material to learn unlike ppl promote it on the internet and media.

If I would have been forced to learn Scala, I would have chosen Python just because there are more lessons for it.

Scala red book? Scala is my first programming language. Most books are written for java programmers who are interested in scala.

>>8737516
https://www.coursera.org/learn/progfun1/home/welcome

>>8737516
https://www.amazon.com/Functional-Programming-Scala-Paul-Chiusano/dp/1617290653

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Why is it called "Computer Science" when it's not about computers and it's not a science?

>>8737566
this meme needs to die. How do people still think this, when the very architecture that supports their shitposting was designed by CS majors.

>>8737577
"computer" "science" is just one of many tools that was required to culminate in the creation of this website. For example, I assume the person that made this website eats food. Does that mean making a ham sandwich is "computer science" because it contributed in some abstract way to the creation of a website?

Computer Science should be more accurately renamed as "Theory of Computational Mathematics"

>>8737435
computer science here,
start: - read George Finlay Simmons-Calculus with analytic geometry-McGraw-Hill (1996)
-php and javascript for my blog

>>8737587
>Theory of Computational Mathematics
>>8737587
you are right

>>8737587
Yes but making a sandwich is not a necessary prerequisite to making this website. There were many people that made and ate a sandwich in the past, yet the vast majority didn't make this website or any website.

A computer scientist did.

Which is easier, Comp sci or Civil engineering?

>>8737697
math

>>8737670
There are also plenty of people that research turing machines or advanced algebra without ever writing any computer code. Again, "computer science" is only tangentially related to computers.

>>8737721
>turing machines
How is this not part of computer science? It may not fall under the purview of undergraduate CS, but anything related to computation is computer science, just because CS was born of pure maths doesn't mean it is mutually exclusive to it.

I am not arguing that there isn't overlap between math and CS, there is but CS is just as important to computation as math is.

>>8737566

But... it is. It's about both. I've got a BSc in Comp Sci and not only is it all about computers, it's also all about science. I don't even understand your comment.

>>8737838
recursion theory is an interesting field of research mostly done in the math department, not cs department. mathematical logicians tend to focus in computability, while computer scientist tend to focus in computational complexity.

>>8737838
You misunderstand. I'm not saying Computer Science is bad or useless or anything like that. I'm just saying the title "computer science" is not accurate to what is studied in the field. It's like, imagine a hypothetical universe where everybody knows of "Physics" by the name "fart researching". Even though a physicist might research farts, and fart research relies on physics, that is still an inaccurate title.

Same with "computer science". Sure, sometimes computers are involved, and computers rely on it, but it's still an inaccurate title.

>>8737908
It's not a science. Almost all of it is maths

>>8737926

I would argue that math is a science (former pure math major too, btw).

But truly, it is a scientific study of computers and how they... well, compute. You can't say that proving Turing completeness is neither related to computers or science.

>>8737926
>inaccurate title
What would be an accurate title in your opinion and why has such an inaccurate title remained so prevalent among academics.

>>8737964
>why has such an inaccurate title remained so prevalent among academics.

the German/French/Euro equivalent is Informatik/Informacien

>>8737971

Which is interesting. Perhaps instead of Computer Science it should be Information Science.

>>8737980

>Information Science

adding science at the end is redundant, its like calling something "Knowledge Philosophy" hence Informatik not Informatikwissenshaft

>>8737645
Hello Computer Science, this is molecular biology. Wanna hook up some time and make some little bioinformatics mulattos?

>>8737985
It's not redundant. There's an important difference between just "information" and "information about information".

>>8737990
>important difference

hence the -ik

adding science at the end also assumes Informatik is entirely scientific and not inclusive of less scientific features such as individual psychology with regards to design

ex: someone builds a language+IDE platform, the implemented mechanics of stuff like compilation syntax directed automation fall in the realm of science, however the non-quantified personal choices with regards to semantic or style preferences are not scientific, but still pertinent to information, hence Informatik

>>8737971
Sure but does this imply there is a field more deserving of having computer in it's title?

>>8737587
This website is not a direct application of ham sandwiches, nor were ham sandwiches developed to be the mathematical and logical framework upon which this website rests

>>8738025

>Sure but does this imply there is a field more deserving of having computer in it's title

Why? "Informatik" acknowledges the non-scientific aspects inherent in using information to shape information. Adding science at the end assumes that there is something there useful, inherent in the information itself, to be discovered.

Material science makes sense because we're trying to figure out how a material works or how to make new material, climate science makes sense because the sole job is to figure out how the climate works. "Information/computer science" assumes we're trying to figure out how information/computers work. But since computers are made of material, the effort to figure out how computing machines work falls in the realm of material science/physics, the effort to figure out /how we should make computing machines work/ (this includes you and me by the way) is not necessarily entirely scientific, hence "Informatik", its more of a practical art.

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>>8737908
>mfw a computer scientist thinks they do science

>>8737937
Math is nothing at all like science. Grad student here

>>8738049

Well I guess that settles it...

Seriously though. Explain how math is not a science.

>>8738052
ignore him, mathematics has been classified thoroughly as a formal science, only brainlets deny this.

>>8738189

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intuitionism

>>8738194
Physical sciences owe there validity to mathematical axioms being self evident and true. If this is not the case then neither is the validity of life sciences.

>>8738222
>Physical sciences owe there validity to mathematical axioms being self evident and true

physical sciences owe their validity to mathematical models /just werking/, you don't need to understand set theory to quantify the surface tension of water

>>8737937
>>8738052
>>8738189
>>8738194
Maths isn't science, and it isn't "art"; maths is maths. It belongs in its own category.
Science is concerned with verifying theories with observation, but mathematics doesn't need observation since it relies on proofs.

>>8737448
Functional programming languages tend to be more difficult to understand. Try something procedural or object oriented first.

Python is a good beginner language.