# What's the difference between studying “Software Development”, “Software Engineering”, “Computer Science” and “Information Technology”?

I really cannot understand the key-differences between those fields of study. Can please someone explain it in detail? If one graduates from a Master program of Computer Science, how does he differ from the one graduated from a Software Engineering program, or one from IT?

• what is computer science / cs meta – vzn Jan 3 '15 at 19:52
• 1. What research have you done? Where have you looked? 2. The meaning of those terms might vary, so this question is somewhat subjective/opinion-based. – D.W. Jan 5 '15 at 1:17

As D.W. wrote this is somewhat subjective since there is no standard definitions for those fields of study. Regarding your last question, my experience in a couple of European universities is that "Computer Science" is a more theoretical program, often branched from a math faculty while "Software Engineering" is more practical, often part of the Engineering faculty.

Think of it as the difference between someone who is an economist verses someone who is a mathematician specializing in econometrics and or probability theory as it applies to market behavior. One has looked deeper into the math than the other, and is therefore going to be able to project and apply more meaningful solutions to problems that apply to economics.

The same can be said when comparing someone with an IT background specializing in Software Engineering versus a Computer Scientist focussing on Software Engineering. Your IT Software Engineer in going to more concerned with the production of software as it applies to a business strategy or profit, not what data structures and algorithms will yield the best performance based $\Theta(n)$ vs $\Theta(\sqrt{n})$ in a system, or how to prove the correctness of a database query using relational calculus or relational algebra.

One ventures into the depths of scientific and mathematical reasoning concerning software and the other develops solutions to business or government problems using software - a more shallow approach to the same problems if you will.