Neither rocket science nor washing machine science, but computer science

ABSTRACT

Greyer haired computer scientists can easily remember the glory days, but waves of recent publications and opinion seem to have seen clouds on our horizon.

But maybe we worry too much and too soon. Every fairytale heroine goes through a glum patch before living happily ever after, and perhaps Prince Charming is just around the academic corner.

How did we get into the glum patch? What will Prince Charming look like when he sweeps us off our feet? What will life be like for us back at his place? We'll talk a bit about how we got to where we are in an effort to put ourselves into perspective, then think about the opportunities the Prince might bring.

But it's always possible that fickle Prince Charming has found another {boy, girl} and we will wait in vain: so we'll look closely at these clouds, and think about how real they are.

And thence well have a go at "you are here" for CS in universities, and that might help us in moving towards Prince Charming, wherever he may be, and not towards the cloudy horizon. Knowing where we are and where we are trying to head should then have some relevance for how and what we teach our students: they don't like (or need) history lessons, but they are unlikely to be able to head for tomorrow without knowing where yesterday was; they need a comprehension of the grand challenges that face us (but maybe not the "Grand Challenges"). They should know they aren't going to be building rockets, but they aren't going to be mending washing machines either.

But we probably also need to think about where they have come from, because they certainly aren't grey haired computer scientists.

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  K. Computing Milieux
  K.0 GENERAL

General Terms:
Economics, Human Factors, Management, Standardization

Keywords:
fairy tales, grey hair