Quo Vadis, Computer Science?

Abstract

The discipline of Computer Science has been established for almost twenty years. In SOUTH AFRICA, Computer Science Departments have been in existence for fifteen years, and producing graduates for twelve, however, the path ahead for Computer Science is really no clearer than it was in the early years. The different situation that exists in South Africa, and the pressure being exerted by the computing community, continues to cause doubts to be raised as to the relevance of Computer Science to the needs of the South African marketplace. This, in itself, is not of major concern if it is believed that the local computing community will mature into requiring the specialist knowledge for which a Computer Science course equips its graduates, however, this has not happened as yet and there is some doubt as to whether it will ever happen. As a result, perhaps, the time has come to consider whether Computer Science as a pure discipline, such as information processing should be taught as the norm in South African Universities with Computer Science relegated to a minor role.