Modern Computer Science is an academic subject of extraordinary scope and vitality. Its origins are linked to the invention of the first electronic computers nearly 50 year ago, but we are probably only just beginning to realize the implications of using computers to enhance human productivity and creativity. As hardware and software technology have developed, so has the range and nature of computing applications. New insights into parallel processing, programme verification and the efficiency of algorithms have resulted, and new mathematical approaches to modeling and simulating complex systems are being explored.        

Because of the interaction between people and electronic devices that is characteristic of modern computing applications, the study of formal methods is complemented by research into psychology and the theory of language. In the search for good ways of formulating the requirements for complex systems and then designing and specifying suitable computer solutions, general abstract principles-independent of any specific application – are now emerging. These define the nucleus of a new scientific and engineering discipline.


A most exciting aspect of Computer Science is its immediate relevance for our social, commercial and domestic lives. Good ideas developed in universities and laboratories can rapidly influence the development of commercial products – within large international organizations as well as local one-person companies. This practical application of abstract concepts, typically involving co-operation between computer scientists and other specialists, can in turn influence new theoretical developments.    
 

The widespread commercial introduction of concurrent processors, of window interface management and graphic systems, of software packages such as spreadsheets and hypertext, and of computing environments such as World Wide Web, has itself helped to highlight the generality of modern Computer Science.