There are obviously branches of computer science in which computer hardware and software are essential, such as the design of operating systems or the study of memory management. But I’m ultimately most interested in the theoretical side of the field, where researchers need not ever touch a real, physical computer. Do computers play an essential conceptual role in this theoretical work?
Ben Brubaker (28 August 2026)
https://www.quantamagazine.org/does-computer-science-need-computers-20260828/