"data science" continues the time honoured tradition of calling software science when it's clearly not.
In Europe, it's not "computer science" but "informatics". Why do you Americans have to be so pretentious?
"software engineer" is not a real engineer either. You're a programmer or developer.
"scientist" and "engineer" are usually understood as someone with the proper credentials over here. They're not protected titles but most people treat them as such.
If it's just models and stuff in your head, that's "mathematics" or "logic".
Computer "science" and data "science" can be a part of a scientific research project, but they're not science.
@thor For the case of Computer Science in the US, it's not uncommon for some to take courses with FPGAs or Assembly. At my former University the department of Computer Science was started by grabbing a fresh graduate from Yale and making them the Department Chairman. His field was Mathematics and his thesis was in the subfield of Abstract Algebra.
In the early days of computing there were no degrees in computer stuff. There was Mathematics, Physics and Electrical Engineering. So many of the early pioneers of computing were from the aforementioned fields. This would change much later but Computer Science was built as the science of using the computer.
I agree that the title is a bit odd but some of the courses dive into the Mathematics and Science of computers. So it's not inaccurate but rather dated. There were many courses that CS majors shared with EEs, Physics and Mathematics. So there's a tight relationship between the fields. I got headhunted from Mathematics for research work after I became involved with a few projects. I actually got in trouble and they kept me from getting expelled for hacking.
So Computer Science does contain what we would consider informatics but not Analysis like Mathematicians learn to do with computers. So while the field continues to change from its roots, it's still Computational Science and they are all required to be competent to a certain extent outside of Microsoft Studio or whatever it's called now.
I will note that CS majors are more than likely doing their work on Windows while Mathematicians are using Linux or Mac. Physicists require more than Apple can offer so fortunately they are forced into Linux or BSD. Engineers might use Windows or Linux. Oh and we required the use of Linux in CS courses.
It could also be a problem with translation. It was a fun hobby for the nerds until it became popular. With Formula Translator finally all but completely dead presumably for the last time and the focus of CS shifting to shiny new Languages, the ties to Mathematics are starting to disappear.
American Universities might be pretentious but the nerds they imprison are usually not. They are also a business like those cert monopolies that keep people from working unless they identify something that lost reliance a decade ago.
So no. If it's wrong then it's the business side of it that screws everyone over and they get paid better than the experts. I don't care if you punch a University in the balls, just be sure to get the money side and not the side that wants to make the world a better place.
