Computer science is the study of the storage, transformation and transfer of information. The field encompasses both the theoretical study of algorithms (including their design, efficiency and application) and the practical problems involved in implementing them in terms of computer software and hardware.
An algorithm is a detailed and unambiguous sequence of actions for solving a problem or for performing some task. Algorithms are essential to the way computers process information because a computer program is basically just an algorithm that tells the computer what specific steps to perform (and in what sequence) in order to carry out a specified task.
Although its name contains the word science, computer science is usually considered to be a branch of engineering. This is in sharp contrast to most of the physical sciences, which separate the understanding and advancement of the science from its practical applications. Science is a technique for learning about the natural world by applying the principles of the scientific method (which includes making empirical observations, proposing hypotheses to explain those observations, and then testing those hypotheses); engineering is the application of science.
Computers are virtually indispensable to the field of computer science. Yet, as Edsger Dijkstra, a pioneering computer scientist, so aptly put it, "Computer science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes."
Some of the major sub-specialties of computer science are algorithms and data structures, programming methodology and languages, software engineering, computer architecture, artificial intelligence, networking and communications, database systems, parallel computation, distributed computation, computer-human interaction, computer graphics and operating systems
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