Ok, Computer Engineering versus Computer Science. What's the difference.
Well, essentially computer "scientists" are programmers. That's really about it. Oh sure, they've got a little background information on things like assembly language and networks and maybe a few have a general understanding of how a processor works. But in general, they are code monkeys, softees as it were.
So how's that different than a Computer Engineer? Well a CE is an engineer, for starters. It's basically a completely different way of looking at the world and especially at work. But more specifically, as engineers, we create entire systems. Sure we program. In fact, we have such a thorough understanding of how processors work, that we're likely to program better than a CS, not too mention that our engineering point of view is well sutied to the world of programming and our code is likely to be better organized and more maintainable. But we also work on the electronics side of things. A comp. eng'r is likely to be working on anything from designing new microprocessors to building robots. Not only that, but we'll probably right the software or firmware for the project, too. We're kind of like a mix between electrical engineers[1] and computer scientists, but with a whole slew of extra fields thrown in for good measure.
Now, I don't mean too much to put down computer scientists. I'm certainly not saying they're neccessarily dumb, or dumber than a comp eng'r. What I am saying is that they have a far narrower focus than a CE. Sure, they may be able to list off 2 dozen programming languages they've "mastered", but give me or any other computer engineer worth their salt half a day to learn a new language and you won't be disappointed. Basically, the point is this; computer engineers are much more than just programmers, and it's important (mostly just to me and other CEs) that other people, especially other engineers, understand that.
