Education and Career Forum

Which branch is better to pursue?What are the similarities as well as differences in the two?

Originally Posted by Divya_

Which branch is better to pursue?What are the similarities as well as differences in the two?

hi
"Computer Science" and "Information Technology" are completely different subjects.

"...Computer science is interpreted broadly so as to include algorithms, data structures, computational complexity theory, distributed computation, parallel computation, VLSI, machine learning, computational biology, computational geometry, information theory, cryptography, quantum computation, computational number theory and algebra, program semantics and verification, automata theory, and the study of randomness. Work in this field is often distinguished by its emphasis on mathematical technique and rigor..."
-Advanced Computer Machinery (ACM)

"... Information Technology is the study, design, development, implementation, support or management of computer-based information systems, particularly software applications and computer hardware." IT deals with the use of electronic computers and computer software to convert, store, protect, process, transmit, and securely retrieve information.
-Information Technology Association of America (ITAA)

It should be noted that in Europe, "Computer Science" is either similar or identical to the field of "Informatics" or "Informatique".

More simply:

"Computer Science" is the mixture and application of "Applied Mathematics", "Electrical Engineering", and "Complexity Theory/Algorithms" to understand and/or model information. In otherwords, the "field of computation".

"Information Technology" is the mixture and application of "Programming", "Hardware Administration", "Software Administration", "Networking", "Network Security" and "Technical Support". In otherwords, the "management of computers.

Computer Science is a subject in general dealing with computer hardware and software. IT is a derived subject which is mainly involved in the management of inforamtion using computers.
Both computer science engineers and It engineers develop hardware and software. But the work done by IT engineers are mainly for the management of information.

The government of India introduced a new stream called Information Technology keeping in mind the demand of software engineers. Since the number of students applying for computer science and engineering is far more than the available seats, a similar stream, information technology was introduced.
As a matter of fact both the streams are 93.75% similar. Only three papers out of the 48 papers in the four year course of BTech in computer science and information technology are different. Hence both the streams are almost similar.
Computer Science is given a ltitle more preference over information technology because there is still a large number of population who believe that information technology is different and inferior to computer science. Otherwise technically speaking, both the streams are similar and they get the same jobs after BTech.

best of luck!!!

Is IT better or ETM better in engineering