Theoretical Computer Science - Scope

Scope

It is not easy to circumscribe the theory areas precisely and the ACM's Special Interest Group on Algorithms and Computation Theory (SIGACT) describes its mission as the promotion of theoretical computer science and notes:

The field of theoretical computer science is interpreted broadly so as to include algorithms, data structures, computational complexity theory, distributed computation, parallel computation, VLSI, machine learning, computational biology, computational geometry, information theory, cryptography, quantum computation, computational number theory and algebra, program semantics and verification, automata theory, and the study of randomness. Work in this field is often distinguished by its emphasis on mathematical technique and rigor.

To this list, the ACM's journal Transactions on Computation Theory adds coding theory, computational learning theory and theoretical computer science aspects of areas such as databases, information retrieval, economic models and networks. Despite this broad scope, the "theory people" in computer science self-identify as different from the "applied people." Some characterize themselves as doing the "(more fundamental) 'science(s)' underlying the field of computing." Other "theory-applied people" suggest that it is impossible to separate theory and application. This means, the so called "theory people" regularly use experimental science(s) done in less-theoretical areas such as software system research. This also means, there is more cooperation than mutually exclusive competition between theory and application.

					P = NP ?
Mathematical logic	Automata theory	Number theory	Graph theory	Computability theory	Computational complexity theory
GNITIRW-TERCES
Cryptography	Type theory	Category theory	Computational geometry	Quantum computing theory