Imagine being able to travel to the moon with only your play station or xbox, or reach and experience the other side of the earth within a fraction of a second, or simulate life or even the universe to some extent, while sitting within the comfort of your home. My reason for choosing to pursue a degree in computer science was not derived from noticing a natural affinity within my elf for dealing with computer systems and architecture, but far from it. In my opinion, my reasons are a bit more genuine than that, but at times it definitely feels as if I am paying heavily for it. My genuine interest in computer science stemmed from my desire to create and manifested itself into programming when I was introduced to coding, through a childhood friend, who I had admired because of their talent to create these program these amazing games. Immediately, I was fascinated by what could emerge from this new world. Due to this experience comma and budding excitement, I was thrusted into a world filled with mind boggling possibilities, stressful nights, yet very rewarding in its thanks to you, for being willing to brave the storms that arrive with the territory of computer science. The end all be all a computer scientist as a part of a community is to advance the field of technology through the study and implementation of computer theory and application, coupled with mathematically strategies, immense data and ever-changing computer systems.
Computer scientists specifically programmers have to acquaint themselves with a multitude of programming-based concepts. Binary numbers are the most rudimentary of all computer systems, including your phones, your tv, and naturally your laptop. Most people can go their entire lives without understanding what binary numbers are and how integral they are to all computer systems. In the case of programmers, this is impossible due to how an understanding of binary numbers allow programmers to accurately store and manipulate data. Which can be obtained in absurd amounts and be used to predict even the most ridiculous of human behavior. In its most rudimentary form Binary numbers are simply 0s and 1s corresponding to off and on, respectively. They themselves relate to whether an electrical current Is passed through a gate on a switch, which are physical components of a computer that allows for simple computation. Multiple of these transistors or 0 and 1 combinations allow for the complex systems individuals use today to be built and used to the level of complexity they are at today. The existence and use of binary numbers allow for data to be collected and analyzed, in partnership with programming practices for data collection, in staggering amounts. This collection and manipulation of data are increasingly more prevalent as society grows allowing for claims, the individual or group who has the most data has the most power influences. This is because analyzing data reveals trends of the person the data was collected from. These trends unveil habits about the person, what the person is interested, how likely they are to buy a certain product, their socioeconomic status, a person’s religion, and political allegiance, and often their frame of mind. The data collected creates a portfolio about people that is very valuable to companies and organizations who wish to sell products to you or simply want to track your activity. These practices and goals bring an immense focus on data collection, but in order to gather and comprehend the data collected programmers must first store them. Which is used with implementation of data structures. Data structures as the name already suggests allow programmers to store data that were given in unique ways, each having their own quality and benefit for its use, ranging in which order the data can be accessed, traced, traversed and much more. Furthermore, data structures act as terminals for us to input data into other systems. Data structures are the fundamentals of being able to understand and properly create algorithms, which allow programmers to accurately predict and interpret the world in a mathematical sense. Which opens a door for understanding the limits of an idea, object or concept in the real world. Additionally, an important concept that aids programmers in being able to visualize real-world ideas on to computer systems. Object oriented programming allow programmers to better solve real world problems and theoretical programming problems. It allows code to be reused by different “objects” who are under the same class which can be seen as blueprint. For instance, it allows different objects to have similar properties, allowing for code to be reused. These concepts aid programmers and computer scientists in dissecting the world around them.
As a computer scientist, one must be knowledgeful of common terms used within the industry or among practices, as well as rules and that define the guidelines of the community. A key term that should be known are functions, as they are key factors when creating code as they are required and can be used to organize code for readability and proper syntax use, which are aspects themselves that the community values. Functions themselves are a group of statements that perform a certain task. Although, at first glance may seem very rudimentary, functions can grow exponentially in size and complexity, resulting in hundreds of lines code, that take an increasing amount of time to execute. Well written functions have excellent reusability and interact efficiently with other parts of the code and memory of the computer. Furthermore, return statements are an integral part of many functions because they allow functions to store their result or compute specific things to the compiler whether to output successfully or display an error. These statements give value to functions because often functions produce a value and to properly hold and use this value “return” statements are needed. Additionally, another key insider term that programmers should be aware of are libraries. Libraries are indeed a saving grace from programmers. Libraries are integral to programming because they save the programmers from wasting time writing code that is often used. Libraries are a repository holding many functions considered “built-in” to its respective programming languages. There are tons of libraries within a single programming language and the type and amount of built-in functions that each language has is unique and relatively to itself.
As a community Computer science professional value efficiency and proactiveness. These two values manifest them in different ways. Regarding creating code and system maintenance, being proactive means making sure that your code runs with warnings or very minimal, if need be. This is crucial because often programmers work in groups on a project, and one person’s code may work fine despite the apparent warnings given by the compiler. When combined in the same workplace of folder with another person’s code, the two files may interact unexpectedly, due to ignoring the warnings at hand. Being proactive also means educating yourselves about new technology that may improve your performance at work or new idea and practices that alter the norm of the industry you are working in. To second the importance of being proactive, Leslie Ogu, a Tech Consultant at Deloitte had also claimed some insider practices to the industry were to “Watch the news and stay in the know with the latest technologies, and learn about it as soon as you can”, which goes to stay that this information is indeed relevant within the community.
Additionally, Computer programmers value efficiency because improvements made in the field of technology are usually made or escalated through fast acting programs. For instance, Google produces outputs 500 million+ to a single search of “aquariums” in under .70 of second. This efficiency allows work to be done at a faster pace allowing for more scientific advancements. Lastly, the computer science industry values creativity, along with conventional coding practice for simple implementations. For instance, if a function has been created multiple times and there is a general consensus for how to create or set-up a certain aspect it is not “illegal” to complete it in an odd way, but many people will scrutinize you for it, especially if the way that it was completed was heavily resource dependent. Resources such as memory, data, or computing power.
Additionally, there are a multitude of skills valued among the community, skills involving having proficiency on a concept and its implementation. Essentially meaning being able to code in one’s preferred or required language. Further meaning having an understanding of data types, proper memory allocation, data structure, abstract data types, binary tree structure and implementation, recursion, and many more complex concepts. As well as skills, there are rules that are integral to the computer science community. Having adequate syntax readability is a rule among programmers because they often work in groups and by having code that is commented and readable makes interacting with other’s code among the group easier to work with. Along with perseverance, which is crucial because a simple mistake in the code can have a person stuck for hours and with so many complex topics to grasp each with a plethora of practices and ideas within them, it can indeed be overwhelming, and if an individual lack perseverance than they will fail to solve the problem in their path. Further emphasized by Mr. Leslie Ogu, that “That work doesn’t always end at 5. Lol There is an unspoken rule that you don’t leave until your boss leaves, or at the very least, all your work is done. It can become tiring, but it pushes you to work efficiently.” illustrating how imperative having perseverance truly is.
Given the expansiveness of computer science field and industry there is constant research being undertaken. From Exploring the language of C++ from a deep mathematical view point.(Graham), to a high focus on theories within the field and how they contribute to the advancement of the field and other aspects (Gelenbe). Specifically, the study and application of computers does a great deal in aiding the advancement of other sciences. For instances within biology and the study of surface-initiated polymerization regarding “stochastic methods and molecular modeling” (Brain), computer science allows for the creation of simulations that predicting “properties of various classes of materials. When applied to polymerization” (Brain) and regarded as a “powerful tool” which only furthers the case that computer science supports the advancement of discovery not just in its own realm of motherboards, data storage, and computing speed but within other sciences.
In conclusion, the expansive, mind boggling, yet fascinating industry that is computer science has its fair share of values, rules, insider terms, and people who devote their life to defining what it means to work and live in and through this industry. Personally, I can relate to some of the claims, although my experience is very limited, but through school and my high school cybersecurity internship, I personally, experienced a defining moments that helped me characterize what the industry is about, of course, my personal anecdotes should be taken with a lot more than a ‘grain of salt’. There is indeed a great emphasis on understanding the newest emerging technology, which during my internship I was tasked with giving daily reports on, and there is immense truth on staying later than expected as Mr. Leslie described, I had to stay late on days to make sure the project I was creating for the CEO and Human resources, which involved integrating a dash board program with certain company related information on, it was on track to being completed by the prescribed date. All in all, I understand that I’ve only just begun to understand, what this industry truly holds.f
