The need to regulate the practice of computer science as a profession

In the information age, computers facilitate progress and interconnectivity of societies. From international corporations to production of farming vehicles, computers are now utilized in all aspects of living. As practitioners in other essential fields of human knowledge are required to be regulated by the government through the Professional Regulation Commission, the establishment of the computer science as a profession will protect and benefit technological and economic progress. There will be a pool of recognized experts society can confidently depend on to expertly address their computing needs. The reasons for not regulating computer science as a profession are misguided beliefs on what the science of computing is all about; as expounded in a previous article, computer science is different from information technology. The systematic study of the science of computing can be regulated, such is different from knowledge of various computer applications founded upon the practice of this science. Traditional reasons to shy away from licensing computer scientists before they can exercise their specialized knowledge to the public – such as difficulties in categorizing fields of computing – do not defeat the imperative need to regulate it as a profession. Most aspects of living are now dependent on computers which are, in one way or another, dependent on computer scientists.