Is computer science the same as Computer Engineering?

I was checking assist.com, and i chose computer engineer as my major, and they gave me the list of courses i need to take in community college, then i checked computer science, and they listed the same courses. Are they about the same? And why do computer science majors get payed more?

Is computer science the same as Computer Engineering?
It depends, both concern the study of software but the emphasis can be very different. For graduate school, if you are looking into theory than CS is more applicable, but for real world application both apply.





Computer engineering tends to focus on software, and how software can be implemented on real world systems. For instance, representing a number in a binary system means you have to accomodate for data approximation. Computer engineering will cover more of the hardware aspects, it will focus more on operating systems.





Computer Science tends to focus more on the theory of algorithms (a set of steps), and how you apply algorithms to solve classes of problems. It focuses on how you measure the efficiency of an algorithm, what problems are not readily solvable. Computer Science at the higher level resembles math.





Computer science focuses on understanding problems and how to approach them, while computer engineering focuses on the creation of computational systems.
Reply:No, a Bsc is not an applied science degree.





Generally the CE is a combo of a lite EE degree with a lite CS degree.
Reply:Computer Science and Computer Engineering are different fields. As far as I know, the following definitions are universal- they certainly apply at the schools I know:





Computer Science is the field that deals with software- Programming, Software Architecture, Interface Design, etc. Etc. Etc.





Computer Engineering is the field that deals with designing the computers themselves- the chips and circuits and such. It's closer to other Engineering fields than to computer science, really.





The reason your list of courses in community college was the same is that you need to know a lot about Computer Science to do Computer Engineering, and a pretty fair amount about Computer Engineering to excel at Computer Science.





I don't know why your material lists computer scientists as paying more, in my experience it's more likely the other way around. Bill gates may be skewing the average. ;)
Reply:They are quite similar, but computer science is more software and computer engineering is more hardware (like EE in a way).
Reply:No, in general, they're not the same.





Computer science major tends to more soft wares while Computer engineering tends to more hard wares.





My brother and I got BS degrees at the same University. Mine was CS and my job title now is Programmer. His was CE and he is an engineer now.





BTW, who said that CS major get paid more? Most engineers make more money than programmers.





Good luck!
Reply:You may need to dig into the too a little bit more.





When I went to collage, the engineering department has a much higher reputation than the computer science department (computer science is where many of the ones that couldn't hack engineering went).





One thing to specifically look into is exactly what degree's you are eventually looking into. In my case stated above, you got into "computer engineering" by going into the Electrical Engineering department and therefore graduated with a BSEE. Because "engineering" is generally considered more difficult than "computer science", the BSEE had a lot more prestige than BSCS and BSEE earned more.
Reply:Well, ideally CE has some/more topics related to computer hardware, while CS has some/more topics related to computer theory in general.


To find out if they are the same, just go through the courses offered for CE and CS and you'll get a clear picture. For most schools, CE and CS are the same.
Reply:I believe computer science is a subset of computer engineering.


And software engineering mostly uses computer science unless you work for Intel or IBM.


Not sure may be you can get more about Software engineering from books below:


http://pspxworld.com/book/computerscienc...
Reply:No they are not the same thing. I had the same delima and consulted the Head of the Engineering deparment for better understanding and this is what he said...Basically the best way to understand the differnce is to understand that Electrical Engineering(EE) is all hardware and Computer Science(CS) is all Software...Computer Engineering(CpE) is a combination and if you want to ultimatly deal with computers should be taken because to understand both hardware and software is key...But also a good thing to keep in mind is that if you know the hardware you can figure out the software but NOT the other way around so take EE if you are more interested in hardware and CpE if you are more interested in Software and forget that the other even exists because it does you no good to know nothing about hardware...by the way it only pays well because there are a short number of CS jobs and therefore pay more but if you want to be hired go for CpE
Reply:cuz in one you use science and in the other engineering?
Reply:The 2 majors are similar. but aren't exactly the same.


The way I think about, it is electrical engineering majors study mostly circuits and hardware. Computer science majors study mostly programming.


Computer engineers study a little bit of both: hardware/circuit and programming (I would argue more programming than hardware though).





That's my opinion from an academic perspective. In the work field however, there isn't really a difference whether you got a comp eng or comp sci degree. Both the degrees are just as good and are eligible for the same jobs. I had a comp science friend get a computer engineering job and vice versa. I even had an electrical engineering friend that got a computer science job! These guys were all out straight out of college with little to no experience). It really shows that it all depends on what you know and how you do on your interview.





Pay wise, I would say that's just an average and it shouldn't be more than a couple thousand difference. It really depends on where you work rather than which degree (comp eng/comp sci) you got.
Reply:yes