Computing is a field of scientific, technical and industrial activity concerning the automatic processing of information by the execution of computer programs by machines: embedded systems, computers, robots, automatons, etc.

These fields of application can be separated into two branches, one of a theoretical nature, which concerns the definition of concepts and models, and the other, of a practical nature, which deals with concrete techniques of implementation. . Some areas of computing can be very abstract, like algorithmic complexity, and others can be closer to a lay audience. Thus, language theory remains a field more accessible to trained professionals (description of computers and programming methods), while professions related to man-machine interfaces are accessible to a wider audience.

The computer term results from the association of the information term with the suffix "-ique" meaning "which is specific to". As an adjective, it applies to all processing related to the use of computers and digital systems. As a noun, it designates the activities related to the design and implementation of these machines. Telecommunications issues such as signal processing or information theory, as well as mathematical problems such as computability are attached to it. In American university vocabulary, ?computer science? refers above all to theoretical computer science: a set of formal sciences whose object of study is the notion of information and the processes for automatically processing it, algorithmic.

Computer applications since the 1950s have formed the basis of the information and communication technology industry. This industrial and commercial sector is linked to both processes (software, system architectures) and hardware (electronics, telecommunications). The sector also provides many services related to the use of its products: development, maintenance, education, support, monitoring and servicing.

• WikipediA: Informatique