Computer Engineering vs Computer Science

bigrash

Lifer
Feb 20, 2001
17,648
28
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basic difference is:

computer engineering is a lot of hardware
computer science is a lot of programming

but that's not to say that you won't be studying any thing else also. My major when i did my associates was computer engineering technology. It involved a lot of circuis and stuff. but it's kinda cool, cause what it comes down to is the structure of a microprocessor.
now i'm doing my bachelors for computer science. it involves a lot of programming language such as java, c++. they never tought me that kind of stuff in before.

hope that helps
 

heat23

Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
3,998
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www.heatware.com
ive heard that in some colleges, like MIT those two terms are using interchangably...
but here at UT the courses are totally different...aside from math courses, theres probably only 1 or 2 common courses that they both have to take....
for engineering you have to take ciruit courses, signal processing, computer architecture courses...stuff like that
for CS its alot of programming courses :)
 

Hawk

Platinum Member
Feb 3, 2000
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Here at UCLA there's Computer Science and Computer Science and Engineering. Computer Science is more programming, computing principles, etc. CSE is almost exactly the same as Electrical Engineering with a CS option, meaning instead of some of the CS classes, you have to take more EE classes. But that's just here at UCLA. =)
 

mikysee

Senior member
Dec 21, 2000
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What kind of jobs do CE do in the real world? Do they make as much as programers. I want to be a programer but I'm in CE and I can't change to CS unless I change my college. Can I still program if I'm in CE?
 

weezergirl

Diamond Member
May 24, 2000
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i think with CE you can do a lot more..you get both the hardware and software side. as with CS you are just limited mostly with software stuff. it's always nice to open yourself to a lot of options.