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[MUSIC]

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Hello, world.

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My name is Richard,
I'm an instructor at Treehouse,

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and my background is computer science.

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Your first question might be,
what exactly is computer science?

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Is it the science of
working with computers?

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Well, there's no set definition.

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It seems that every major university and

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computing organization
has their own take on it.

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To help us define computer science,

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consider the Oscar nominated film
Hidden Figures released in 2016.

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It was the true story of Black women who
are hired at NASA to perform complex

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mathematical calculations for
upcoming space missions.

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Their job title, computers.

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So the term computer science doesn't
necessarily refer to this machine we call

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a computer, because the term existed long
before computers were widely available.

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In fact, Edsger Dijkstra,

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an influential figure in the early days of
the discipline, once stated that computer

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science is no more about computers
than astronomy is about telescopes.

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It has been argued that a more appropriate
term might be computing science,

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although most of the work in the modern
age is done for and by computers.

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So here's our definition.

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Computer science is the study and
design of algorithms,

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computations, and information systems,
in both theory and

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practice, typically with
the aid of computers.

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I know, that's a mouthful.

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As we move forward, we will provide more

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understanding of the term computer
science as you begin this new journey.

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Just like telescopes are tools
in the study of astronomy,

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computers are tools in computer science.

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In the next video, we will unpack
the history of computers and the Internet.

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See you there.