Theoretical computer science (TCS) is a subset of computer science that focuses on the mathematical topics as they relate to practical and modern day computing. A widely accepted view of TCS is the study of algorithms and protocols in modern computing. Many theoretical computer courses aim to provide students with a better understanding of fundamental computational techniques.
General Topics of Study
Studies touch on both theory and algorithms and protocols. Typical TCS courses taught at universities may include some or all of the following topics:
- algorithm design
- big data
- coding theory
- algorithmic game theory
- analytics algorithms
- quantum computing
- cryptography
- computational biology
- randomness in computation
- machine learning
Theoretical computer science may also be called computer science theory.
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