Computer science: Difference between revisions

During the 1940s, with the development of new and more powerful [[computing]] machines such as the [[Atanasoff–Berry computer]] and [[ENIAC]], the term ''computer'' came to refer to the machines rather than their human predecessors.<ref>The [[Association for Computing Machinery]] (ACM) was founded in 1947.</ref> As it became clear that computers could be used for more than just mathematical calculations, the field of computer science broadened to study [[computation]] in general. In 1945, [[IBM]] founded the Watson Scientific Computing Laboratory at [[Columbia University]] in [[New York City]]. The renovated fraternity house on Manhattan's West Side was IBM's first laboratory devoted to pure science. The lab is the forerunner of IBM's Research Division, which today operates research facilities around the world.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ibm.com/ibm/history/history/year_1945.html |title=IBM Archives: 1945 |publisher=Ibm.com |access-date=2019-03-19}}</ref> Ultimately, the close relationship between IBM and the university was instrumental in the emergence of a new scientific discipline, with Columbia offering one of the first academic-credit courses in computer science in 1946.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ibm.com/ibm/history/ibm100/us/en/icons/compsci/ |title=IBM100 – The Origins of Computer Science |publisher=Ibm.com |date=1995-09-15 |access-date=2019-03-19}}</ref> Computer science began to be established as a distinct academic discipline in the 1950s and early 1960s.<ref name="Denning_cs_discipline"/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/conference/EDSAC99/statistics.html |title=Some EDSAC statistics |publisher=University of Cambridge |access-date=19 November 2011}}</ref> The world's first computer science degree program, the [[Cambridge Diploma in Computer Science]], began at the [[University of Cambridge]] [[Cambridge Computer Lab|Computer Laboratory]] in 1953. The first computer science department in the United States was formed at [[Purdue University]] in 1962.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cs.purdue.edu/about/conte.html |title=Computer science pioneer Samuel D. Conte dies at 85 |date=July 1, 2002 |publisher=Purdue Computer Science |access-date=December 12, 2014}}</ref> Since practical computers became available, many applications of computing have become distinct areas of study in their own rights.{{see also|History of computing|History of informatics}}