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"Computer Science" taught at A level should be called "Computing", would you agree?

I believe that the topics learnt in A level computer science are not actually computer science, but more computing.

Networks, databases, programming etc. have so little to do with computer science, so why is it not called computing instead?

Hope to get some insight, thanks.
Original post by samok
I believe that the topics learnt in A level computer science are not actually computer science, but more computing.

Networks, databases, programming etc. have so little to do with computer science, so why is it not called computing instead?

Hope to get some insight, thanks.


I always thought the terms were interchangeable tbh... cos I did GCSE computing and Im currently doing a level computer science and it's pretty much the same except there's more depth to what we learnt previously at GCSE... (and a few completely new stuff like sorting algorithms and Dijkstra and things)
As above, some of the topics on algorithms is more formally Computer Science; more generally, to an extent at any level below undergraduate there isn't scope to go into enough depth for it to really be "Computer Science"; the same can be applied to e.g. Engineering, Physics, and arguably Mathematics. Certainly, the term "Mathematics" in terms of degree level maths and onwards has a very different meaning to the A-level content, which is more "mathematical methods".

So, I sort of agree but realistically one would need to reword everything so...I'm not sure it's really worth quibbling on. Also the newer version of Computer Science does, as noted, include some more "CS-y" topics than just "computing/IT" topics.
Potato / Potato I guess. It used to be called Computing up until 2015. I don't know why the name got changed, because the courses themselves are still about 80% the same. 'Computing' had been a fairly long-established A-level for decades, and it always contained a bunch of 'CS' stuff about computer architecture, algorithms, logic gates, binary, etc in addition to the programming/networks/databases stuff. Perhaps the modern CS A-level adds more CS topics or puts more weight on the CS part of the assessment, but I don't think the name is a big deal because there's unlikely to be a separate Computing A-level course any time soon.
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Arran90
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I did the old computing A Level. I think that the name change was a combination of updating the course - more CS and less of the business data processing - and attempting to reposition it as a quality mainstream A Level with the same name as its GCSE counterpart. It's not yet a facilitating A Level subject.

The old computing A Level was a bit of a marginal subject more popular in independent schools than FE colleges.
The newer A-level CS courses do have some pretty basic CS-esque concepts to be fair; more-so than the older computing qualifications.

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Networks, databases and programming are important topics in computer science are the foundation of 99% of real world software.

Theoretical CS is more of an area of maths IMO.

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