Computer science is the science that deals with the processing of information using automated procedures, having in particular the study of the theoretical foundations of information, its computation at a logical level and practical techniques for its implementation and application in systems automated electronic devices, therefore called IT systems; as such it is a discipline strongly connected with mathematical logic, automation, electronics and even electromechanics.
It accompanies and integrates or supports all scientific disciplines and, as a technology, it pervades almost any “means” or “tool” of common and daily use, so much so that (almost) we are all users of IT services in some way. The value of information technology in socio-economic terms has climbed Anthony’s pyramid in just a few years, going from operational (to replace or support simple and repetitive tasks), to tactical (to support short-term planning or management), to strategic. In this context, information technology has become so strategic in the economic and social development of populations that not being able to exploit it, a status renamed with the expression digital divide, is a problem of planetary interest.
Together with electronics and telecommunications, unified together under the name information and communication technologies (ICT), it represents that discipline and at the same time that economic sector that gave birth and development to the third industrial revolution, through what is commonly known as the digital revolution. Information technology evolves above all in the field of telephony.
- informatica, su Treccani.it – Enciclopedie on line, Istituto dell’Enciclopedia Italiana.