• Question: why is computer science your passion and what was its defining moment

    Asked by OkanmiyoA to ryanbegley, Kathryn, Julian, Fran, andylaw, Alastair HH on 20 Jun 2025.
    • Photo: Andy Law

      Andy Law answered on 20 Jun 2025:

      For me, computer science is not my passion, but computer science helps me _with_ my passion which is understanding biology. There is a buzz to writing code that works, but writing code that works but no-one will use is pointless. We use computers to analyses data to answer questions that are not about computers. It’s those questions (and the answers) that are important to me, not just the computing part.
      As for defining moments, there have been hundreds, probably thousands. The technology that goes into designing and building a tiny sliver of silicon-doped material that we can use to calculate things is astonishing, as is the network that joins it together with data storage, and other computers, and the programming languages that we use. There was no one single moment.

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