The development of computer science: a sociocultural perspective

Computer science is a broad discipline, and computer scientists often disagree about the content, form, and practices of the discipline. The processes through which computer scientists create, maintain, and modify knowledge in computer science---processes which often are eclectic and anarchistic---are well researched, but knowledge of those processes is generally not considered to be a part of computer science. On the contrary, I argue that understanding of how computer science works is an important part of the knowledge of an educated computer scientist. In this paper I discuss some characteristics of computer science that are central to understanding how computer science works.