I think I came up with a good definition of what Software Engineering is about, just before I got my bachelor in Software & Information Engineering. It is about getting into a “domain”, for example the car industry, understanding their terms, processes, work, information, problems. Then coming up with a model that describes or solves an issue. The implementation is usually left to programmers. I left out some details about maintenance, that it is an iterative process, etc.

So “Contemporary issues”. Every master degree has that I think. It is about finding out what people are currently researching in. Now computer science is a broad field, I’ll give you two examples, areas I’m interested in doing the paper about:

a) Representation of mathematical theorems and automatic proofs

Probably very theoretical. Some websites in that area are vdash.org and metamath.org. It is about “teaching” the computer our understanding of math. This works very well for logic, algebra and geometry. But what about analysis and calculus?

b) Swarm algorithms, (maybe with a focus on inhomogeneous and not connected all the time)

Swarm algorithms is about hundreds of small devices that can move and talk to each other. There is (normally) no leader, but a swarm algorithm (which runs on each device) emerges a behaviour of the group. My favorite example is a shark hunting through a swarm of fish. Each fish is just one fish, trying to avoid the shark. But you can also see the swarm showing some behaviour as a collective. Devices might be flying and exploring an area using sensors and telling the others which places to avoid.

The computer is just one side effect of computer science. There are theoretical areas that might not go beyond paper and pencil. Then of course there are all the combinations with other fields (bio, geo, chem), graphics, games, and effects on society as well as business related stuff.

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