Computer Science Reflections on the Field, Reflections from the Field

The blossoming of computer science (CS) research is evident in the
information technology that has migrated from a specialized tool
confined to the laboratory or corporate back office to a ubiquitous
presence in machines and devices that now figure in the lives of virtually
every individual. This widespread diffusion of information technology
can obscure the nature of computer science research underlying the IT—
from the perspective of many outside the field, computer science is seen
not as a basic area of systematic inquiry but as a tool to support other
endeavors.