Ghazi - IT Programs Comparison

Comparison of CS, SE and IT

Ghazi Student's Guide

<< Home

Computer Science careers | Programs Comparison | Course Matrix Comparison

	Computer Science	Software Engineering	Information Technology
1	Solving computer problems and applying computer technology to meet the individual needs of an organization.	The practical aspects of computer programming are often referred to as software engineering.	The study, design, development, implementation, support or management of computer-based information systems, particularly software applications and computer hardware.
2	Performing research, often in a specialized field of computer science.	Designing, managing, writing and testing large software systems.	Design, development, and maintenance of World Wide Web sites.
3	Within a Computer Science degree you have a lot of flexibility to learn about many areas of foundational and applied topics as it relates mostly to software.	Software Engineering program contains a larger set of required courses concerning the principled design and development of software.	We recommend that if you really can’t decide between CS and IT or between SE and IT, start in CS or SE because CS credits will transfer to IT more easily than vice versa and “catching up” in IT is more feasible.
4	Finding eternal truths about problems and algorithms for posterity.	Constructing software applications for real-world use for today.	IT deals with the use of electronic computers and computer software to convert, store, protect, process, transmit, and securely retrieve information.
5	Additional Skills: Mathematics	Additional Skills: Domain knowledge
6	Computer scientist and software engineer tend to view computing from the computer’s viewpoint by creating, developing and extending the underlying technology.		Information technologist tends to apply available technology to solve real-world problems for people.
7	CS and SE also require significantly more math and science than Information Technology, mainly because extending the underlying technology requires a more thorough mathematical foundation than applying that technology.		There is not an stronger emphasis on traditional programming in Information Technology as CS and SE.
8	The typical CS or SE application involves writing large programs from scratch using traditional programming languages and focusing on software architecture, data structures and algorithm development issues.		Information Technologists certainly build software applications, but the style of programming in IT differs from that in CS or SE.
9	CS and SE curricula are “deeper” in that there are more required prerequisites for the intermediate and advanced courses in CS and SE.		Information technology has a flatter prerequisite structure, which facilitates the transfer of students into IT from other majors.
10		It encompasses techniques and procedures, often regulated by a software development process, with the purpose of improving the reliability and maintainability of software systems.	Designing and managing computer database systems and managing the security of those systems.
11		Software engineers are typically self-appointed. A computer science degree is common but not at all a formal requirement.	Someone who will plan and deploy networking infrastructure or integrate databases or build significant Web sites, then the IT program is probably a better fit.
12	Computer Science programs often feature the theory of computation, analysis of algorithms, formal methods, concurrency theory, databases, computer graphics and systems analysis, among others.	The discipline of software engineering includes knowledge, tools, and methods for software requirements, software design, software construction, software testing, and software maintenance tasks.	Study of algorithms for searching and processing information in documents and databases; closely related to information retrieval.
13	About half of all practitioners today have computer science degrees.	A small, but growing, number of practitioners have software engineering degrees.
14	Some universities teach computer science as a theoretical study of computation and algorithmic reasoning.	Many students in the developed world have avoided degrees related to software engineering because of the fear of offshore outsourcing.
15		Often one is expected to start out as a computer programmer before being promoted to software engineer.
16	Institutions typically also teach computer programming to CS students, but treat it as a vessel for the support of other fields of computer science rather than a central focus of high-level study.	Software Engineering emphasize the practice of advanced computer programming rather than the theory of algorithms and computation in their computer science curricula. Such curricula tend to focus on those skills that are important to workers entering the software industry.
17	CS involves focusing on algorithm development issues and analysis of algorithm.	Using ideas from algorithm theory to creatively design solutions to real tasks that deliver value to users.
18		Software engineering tries to encompass software projects more completely, fitting them into a business context with relationships to marketing, sales, production, and operations; and methods to construct large applications that individual programmers cannot write alone.	A few of the duties that IT professionals perform may include data management, networking, engineering computer hardware, database and software design, as well as the management and administration of entire systems.
19		Formal education in software engineering is often taught as part of a computer science curriculum, and as a result most software engineers hold computer science degrees.

Sources:

Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia

RIT Information Technology Department
McGill University - School of Computer Science

Scientific American Partner Network