Computer Science students here at York know that they must be proficient in both hardware and software. From the moment they arrive to the time they hand in their graduation projects, they are exposed to a healthy mix of lectures and labs that cover both domains as well as their mutual dependencies. This is a consequence of the department's commitment to research in embedded, real-time and safety critical computer systems, which require careful co-design of the hardware and software subsystems.
I was pleased to find out that prospective students are also aware of that. A few weeks back, I was interviewing a candidate for one of our undergraduate degrees, and when I asked why did he apply to study at York he answered "because York Computer Science students do a lot of hardware stuff". I was curious about that answer, so he told me that very few Computer Science departments have so many hardware labs and advertisement flyers with photos of students playing with robots, circuit boards and osciloscopes.
That got me thinking how the perception of a software vs. hardware dichotomy could influence someone's choice of a higher education institution or degree programme. But considering that usability, performance and energy consumption are the key issues in computing these days, I wonder who would benefit from concentrating only in hardware or software when it is their interplay that will determine the success and wide adoption of a computing system. Will someone use an Ipad if it is slow, runs out of battery in 20 minutes and has a poor user interface? Will they use it if only two out of the three issues are solved? No, you need a design that solve all three problems, and you cannot do that with software or hardware alone. And therefore I think we should be happy to be known as the Computer Science department where students also learn a lot of "hardware stuff".
That got me thinking how the perception of a software vs. hardware dichotomy could influence someone's choice of a higher education institution or degree programme. But considering that usability, performance and energy consumption are the key issues in computing these days, I wonder who would benefit from concentrating only in hardware or software when it is their interplay that will determine the success and wide adoption of a computing system. Will someone use an Ipad if it is slow, runs out of battery in 20 minutes and has a poor user interface? Will they use it if only two out of the three issues are solved? No, you need a design that solve all three problems, and you cannot do that with software or hardware alone. And therefore I think we should be happy to be known as the Computer Science department where students also learn a lot of "hardware stuff".
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