Interest in Computer Science?

Question

After doing quite a bit of self-reflection, I can't seem to pinpoint why I like/have an avid interest in computer science / computer programming...

Some of my reasons I like it, but not the main point:

• being architect (designing programs)
• freedom in pursuing problem because many different ways to solve a problem
• creating something bigger than myself (my program cacn do so much more than me - calculations wise)

... Why do you personally like computer science/programming?

Interesting question, no?

---

community wiki'd

Answer 1

For me it's all about the problem-solving. I am a problem-solver by nature. I like playing games (both board games and computer games), as I'm sure many other programmers do. There is fairly basic human psychology in play here:

Controlling your environment makes you happy.

This is an article on user interface I first read 6+ years ago and it's stuck with me. The same principle applies to many, many things in life.

Answer 2

There's this wonderful excerpt from the "Mythical Man Month" you might find interesting.

Answer 3

Because it's the next best thing I could find to playing with Lego! ;)

Answer 4

Computer Science can tackle any problem no matter of its nature... be it physics, chemistry, or rocket science, everyone needs at least a little help from a computer scientist. A computer scientist is not just a computer programmer, a computer scientist is a general programmer, thus a problem solver. Now if that's not thrilling then I don't know what is. It is like being the wise man in the village... or something like that...

Answer 5

Part of my interest comes from liking to solve problems and learn the "trick" with some puzzles. Thus I am a fan of brain teasers and enjoyed doing Math contests when I was growing up. I could make sense of programming in ways that others would make sense of English composition projects. I have my talents and others have theirs. In university, I knew I would study computer science as I enjoyed writing programs and being able to break things down for others who didn't quite get the technical aspects as quickly I could. I am great at learning concepts and doing things abstractly. I like playing chess and bridge as more examples where strategy and planning are part of what gives me the juice that is my essence that powers my life.

Answer 6

My POV: (1) I'm inventor, not discoverer or I'm more of an god, than an surgeon (2) i'm bad at any other artform, making elegant design and code only medium of expression

Answer 7

These are two different questions since liking programming and liking CS are very different from one another.

I like programming for the engineering aspect, and I find engineering with abstract things more challenging than engineering with physical things.

As for CS, I think it's an interesting subject to study, my own interest (research-wide) is on the human side of software engineering, which isn't really CS in the traditional terms. I do find algorithms/data structures/computability more interesting than standard math/logic.

Answer 8

Yea definitely the problem solving, and also the parts where you get to build usable stuff without the need of any physical components which also means no cost if you don't take into your account and time.

plus also since the world is getting more connected via technological means, this basically means that whatever that you want to do or interested in doing you can.

so whatever are you're interested in you can actually jump over to that field, because most field these days require some forms of computing, be it bio science to banking, and probably gosh... security defence too :P

Answer 9

If you think about it philosophically, people generally dislike unpredictable results and chaos, and computers provide an organized and chaos-free environment with predictable results and outcomes. So, that makes programmers feel comfortable when dealing with computers, I guess that's one of the reasons we like Computer Science.

Answer 10

Computer sience is something who give to me new knowledge about way to solve any problem. All this teach myself on new things, which after that may be useful for me. Other reason is, that computer sience is sience of the future. On the other hand programming is so-interstingly for me.

P.S.: Excuse my english. It’s not my native language ;-)

Answer 11

The thing that continues to surprise and delight me is that I can build a machine just by describing it.

It still seems slightly magical to me every time code compiles and a working program runs.

(Even more surprising how many bugs the rotten thing has that then have to be hunted down and removed.)

Answer 12

To me, programming seems one of those somewhat rare professions, where

• people really enjoy what they are doing
• the interest doesn't fade after a few years
• there's a lot of new stuff to learn - languages, technologies, ...
• the career path is fairly clear (I think :)

Answer 13

I like programming because I like making things that have a life of their own.

As to computer science... well, a couple years back, my new-at-the-time girlfriend referred to me as a computer scientist. My response:

"Don't call me a 'computer scientist'. I'm a coder. I hate computer scientists. If I wanted to deal with people who're more concerned with correctness according to some set of made-up rules than with functionality, I'd go to a church."

Answer 14

I like the satisfaction of creating something. Something that works, that other people can use. It's kind of like woodworking, but less messy, and you don't have to stand up.