O przedmiocie badań informatyki
About the object of computer science’s studies

Summary/Abstract: One of the fundamental ontological issues of the philosophy of computer science is the question about the object of computer scientists’ research. In the paper some views concerning the objects of computer science are analyzed. They include information, computers, computer programs and algorithms. Recognition of computer science as a science of information leads to many philosophical problems related not only to the definition of information, but also of its nature. Similar issues are associated with the adoption of computers as the subject of computer science’s research. In the paper the relationship between the computer as an abstract object and its implementation − real machines is examined. Also the problem of distinguishing hardware from software is considered. Finding that the main computer scientist’s activity is software creation, leads to the view that computer science is the science of programs. The main views on the nature of programs, including the distinction between program as code and program as an executed process are compared and discussed. The paper also contains an analysis of algorithms and procedures as objects of computer science’s research, including a discussion of the main features of the algorithm.

• Details
• Contents