What is Computer Engineering?

As one of the best innovations of the mankind, computers play a crucial role in all parts of our lives, such as: telecommunications, banking, transportation, security, military, medicine, research, education, shopping and entertainment. Through computers, we can process large amounts of data within seconds to solve complex mathematical problems, make weather forecasts, control aircrafts, purchase various products from the internet, perform surgeries, or even discover new planets. These are just a few examples of what we can achieve with computers today.

Computer Engineering is a discipline that embodies the science and technology of design, construction, implementation, and maintenance of software and hardware components of modern computing systems and computer-controlled equipment. Computer engineering has traditionally been viewed as a combination of both computer science (CS) and electrical engineering (EE). This unique combination prepares students for careers that deal with computer systems from design through implementation. Computer engineers usually have training in electronic engineering (or electrical engineering), software design, and hardware-software integration instead of only software engineering or electronic engineering. Computer engineers are involved in many hardware and software aspects of computing, from the design of individual microprocessors, personal computers, and supercomputers, to circuit design. This field of engineering not only focuses on how computer systems themselves work, but also how they integrate into the larger picture.

There are many specialty areas in computer engineering. These are listed below:

·Coding, cryptography, and information protection

·Communications and wireless networks

·Compilers and operating systems

·Computational science and engineering

·Artificial intelligence, machine learning, pattern recognition, data mining

·Bioinformatics and computational biology

·Computer networks, mobile computing, and distributed systems

·Computer systems: architecture, parallel processing, and dependability

·Computer vision and robotics

·Integrated circuits, VLSI design, testing and CAD

·Embedded systems

·Signal, image and speech processing

·Internet and web technologies

·Software engineering