Technology and Engineering Atlas

How Things Are Built
Fields

Computer Engineering

Also Known As Electrical and Computer Engineering

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Computer engineering combines electrical engineering and computer science to design computer hardware and the software that runs closest to it, including processors, memory systems, embedded systems and the firmware and low-level software that controls them. It is distinct from software engineering, which concerns application and system software more broadly, and from electrical engineering wider concern with power and communications systems.

Facts
Core Concern
Designing computer hardware, processors, memory and embedded systems, together with the low-level firmware that controls them. 1
Core Principle
Computer engineering integrates electrical engineering, electronics engineering and computer science, treating a computer's hardware and the software it runs as one designed system rather than two separately engineered halves. 2
Disputed
Origin Year
1971 1
Case Western Reserve University is widely credited with establishing the first computer engineering degree program in the United States in 1971.
Cross-Tradition Connections

Associated With

Electrical Engineering, Fields

Computer engineering grew out of electrical engineering as digital logic and processors became a distinct specialty.

Software Engineering, Fields

Computer engineering and software engineering meet at firmware and low-level system software.

The Integrated Circuit, Inventions

The integrated circuit is the foundational hardware component computer engineering designs with.

Includes

Led the Intel 4004 microprocessor design team and earlier created silicon-gate MOS technology at Fairchild.

Ray Holt, Engineers
Source A History of TechnologyCharles Singer, E. J. Holmyard, A. R. Hall and Trevor I. Williams, editors
Source Encyclopaedia BritannicaEncyclopaedia Britannica editors
In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. Encyclopaedia Britannica
Encyclopaedia Britannica editors, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
2. Computer Engineering (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia FoundationIntroduction section
Quote, Introduction section
Computer engineering may be referred to as Electrical and Computer Engineering or Computer Science and Engineering at some universities.
View the Source
2. Computer Engineering (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia FoundationLead section, opening definition of computer engineering
Quote, Lead section, opening definition of computer engineering
Computer engineering (CE, CoE, CpE, or CompE) is a branch of engineering specialized in developing computer hardware and software.
View the Source
A History of Technology
Charles Singer, E. J. Holmyard, A. R. Hall and Trevor I. Williams, editors, Oxford University Press, 1954Includes: Ray Holt
Federico Faggin (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationIncludes: Federico Faggin, lead section
Quote, Includes: Federico Faggin, lead section
He led the 4004 (MCS-4) project and the design group during the first five years of Intel's microprocessor effort.
View the Source
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