Can a Computer Science Degree Enhance a Physicist's Computational Skills?

AI Thread Summary
A computer science degree can significantly benefit a physicist, particularly in fields like computational physics. Programming skills are essential, often more so than theoretical computer science knowledge. Proficiency in programming enables physicists to handle complex simulations and large codebases, such as those found in hydrodynamics. Effective planning and organization of code are crucial for managing extensive projects, making a computer science background valuable in these contexts.
Robert Mak
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Can a computer science degree help a physicist? :confused:
 
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Maybe if his computer is broken.
 
absolutely.
 
i am sure there are subfields in physics that fit your particular expertise.
 
Programming skills are more important for a physicist than is a knowledge of theoretical computer science, but because all the best programmers have this knowledge, you are in good shape.
 
I would have to say a C.S. degree would be very valuable to a computational physicist. I worked briefly with COSMOS (a hydrodynamics simulator) and the code base was quite large. Understanding how to plan and organize your code is necessary to efficiently manage such a project.
 

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