Discourse Community Essay

Anthony Bradt

MAJ Garriott

ERH 101-18

21 September 2016

The Field of Computer Science and Discourse Communities

The discourse community is an ever-present element in all aspects of life. Whether it is a social group, an academic focus, or a profession, the concept of Swale’s discourse community continues to be a regular part of our lives. In particular, the field of Computer Science spans much larger than your typical network analyst. The academic discipline requires various types of advanced programmers, information security experts, and specialists to maintain the physical equipment needed to get the job done. To be a successful Computer Scientist, all these different aspects of the field are needed to keep the websites and programs millions of people use everyday up and running without fail.

One of the largest and most obvious characteristics of the presence of a discourse community within the field of Computer Science is the specific lexis used amongst programmers an IT professionals alike. All computer programs are written in a specific programming language, such as Java or C++. To an outsider of this discourse community, the result of writing in these languages seems to be a bunch of random keyboard characters and words thrown together that magically solve problems or display information when a computer program is run. A programmer understands the meaning of every character they input into the computer and what the result will be. This concept is very similar to the many different speaking languages throughout the world today, unless a person is from the region where a spoken language is used, the average person will probably not be able to understand the language from other regions of the world. The average consumer does not understand the complex lexis of the programming community. The most direct correlation to programming language is to the Mandarin Chinese language. Every character that is input into the computer has a different meaning from another, and based on where the characters are placed, the entire meaning of the program can be altered. Sometimes this leads to wonderful technological advancements such as Steve Jobs development of the first Apple computer, or it can lead to a circuit board to self destruct such as the recent issues with the Microsoft developed Galaxy Note 7. The lexis of the computer science community is the foundation of the field, and without it, there would be no advancements in computer technology.

All of the programming language and constant advancement of the Computer Science field would be nothing without a set of common goals. The main common goal of the academic discipline is to create a knowledgeable, computing professional that can change with the ever-changing world. Without a smaller set of goals, there is no possible way that the main goal could be reached. One of these smaller goals is the seemingly simple goal to make the average consumers life just a little less hectic. This can be accomplished by utilizing computer scientist to develop thing such as apps, new phones, laptops, and countless other tools that the business professional, student, or average everyday person can use. Without the computer scientists at established corporations such as apple or Microsoft, the development of future programmers would be virtually impossible without their wealth of knowledge. This leads to the next goal of computer science, training new programmers from the mistakes and failed programs of the past. Many modern corporations offer internships to Computer Science majors entering the workforce. This not only allows corporations to scope out future employees, but gives the entire community of computer scientists to create a better programmer than they were when they started. When the elements of creating educated incoming computer scientists along with creating a programmer able to improve the quality of the consumers daily life, the result is a programmer who understands the aspects of the modern programming world who is able to adapt and overcome the challenges of the evolving technological world. One of the main focuses of the field is to develop tools to improve the daily quality of the average consumer’s life.

According to Swales’ definition, a true discourse community must have a threshold level of members. In the modern world, computer programmers are a rare breed mainly because of the difficulty of programming and the languages involved. According to the Department of Computer Science, applicants must have above average teamwork abilities, the ability to adapt to the ever-changing technological advancements in the modern world as well as apply advanced mathematics to solve complex programming issues in the modern world. Although the field is looking for a student capable of performing all of these tasks, the criterion actually creates a threshold community on its own. Not only is it extremely difficult to find a person able to perform to an acceptable standard, but it is even more difficult to find a previously established Computer Science who is able to effectively keep up with all of the advancements within the technological world. Because of this, a need for younger, more moldable computer scientist is needed and at this point in time, the young, moldable computer scientist is not a readily available commodity. Today, there is an increating interest amongst college students and more and more students are switching there majors into the Computer Science field. Right now, there is a plethora of job opportunities and a need for new, educated students to enter into the workforce and change the world for the better.

The discourse community of computer scientists is an emerging community in the modern world. Analysts, programmers and equipment managers makeup the foundation of this community and together create the technology that people today take for granted. Without these professionals, websites, phones and laptops, all tools vital to the modern student and businessman would be unusable and the technology based nations throughout the world would be drastically different than we know today.