Difference Between CS / IT / SE

Almost every student who wants to get admission in Computer field has these
two questions.
“ What is the difference between CS , IT and SE ? “
“ Which one is better and why ? “
So by reading this you will have a clear idea about SE , CS and IT. First let’s talk
about similarities then I will explain differences.
In every university there are some subjects in CS , IT and SE which are
compulsory. These subjects are about Mathematics (Calculas-1 , Calculas-2 ,
Discrete Structure , Linear Algebra , Probability and Statistics ) , English (English-1
, English-2) , Islamyat , Pak Study , Basic Electronics , Digital Logic Design. You can
check at the end of this file. I have attached subjects of CS , IT , SE also available
on http://www.pucit.edu.pk .
Now let’s talk about programming ( in which almost everyone is interested when
someone thinks of computer field ). In CS , IT and SE programming subjects are
same. A student in SE will study same programming subjects as CS and IT. These
subjects are Programming Fundamentals , Object Oriented Programming , Data
Structure and Algorithms , Web Engineering etc. You can also verify this by
checking the subjects attached at the end of this document.
Now let’s talk about the differences between CS , IT and SE. In BS (IT) your focus
will be on “ Networking “. This means you will study about Networking in detail
and your subjects will be like “ Computer Networks “ , “ Network Security “ ,
“ Information Systems “ , “ Routing and Switching “. See what is networking
In BS (SE) your focus will be on all the phases of software development. This
includes “ Software Requirement Engineering “ , “ Software Design and
Architecture “ , “ Software Quality Assurance “ , “ Software Project Planning “.
Let’s understand it by an example. Suppose a company has asked for a business
software. Now programmers started working on project and after they done the
company says “ oh , this is not what we asked “ . So in SE you will study
Requirement Engineering to gather requirements correctly.
Suppose someone asked for a business software and in developing that software
we spend more money and time that we will get from the customer. So in SE you
will study Project Planning so that you can estimate cost , time before even start
working on a project.
In CS you will study deeply about Computer and Algorithms. Your focus will be on
how a computer works , about the different components of Computer like
microprocessor. Your subjects will be “ Computer Architecture “ , “ Analysis of
Algorithms “ , “ Computer Organization and Assembly Language “ , “ Compiler
Construction “ , “ Theory of Automata “.
Suppose someone wants to travel to London and his ultimate goal is to reach
there. There may be more than 3 ways to reach there but we will analyze by
checking time , cost , comfort and efficiency . In Analysis of Algorithms students
do the same job to decide the best techniques to use in the development of a
software system.
Important !
You may have seen students of SE studying Analysis of Algorithms which is core
subject of CS and students of CS studying Project Planning which is the core
subject of SE. Well , this depends on your university. In my university students of
SE studies Fundamentals of Accounting , Entrepreneurship but in PUCIT students
of SE are not studying these subjects they are studying Assembly language etc. So
this also depends on university but the core subjects and differences I have
explained above.
Which one is better ?
Depends on you in which you are interested. According to my opinions SE is
better. I can be wrong but for me studying Project Planning , Software Quality
Assurance , Requirement Engineering is far better than studying Assembly
Language and Compiler Construction.
One thing I notice while studying in SE that when a student of SE do other things
like freelancing ( working for small projects online for customers ) He will use all
the stuff of SE for that. I mean he will gather requirement correctly , will make
design better and also will have a good estimation of time and cost.
Subjects of PUCIT for SE , CS , IT

BS (SE) Subjects
BS (CS) Subjects
BS (IT) Subjects

Written By
Sanan Ali
Student of Software Engineering
Hafiz Hayat Campus University of Gujrat
15081598-169@uog.edu.pk