Computer and Information Technology - What is the difference?

COMPUTING IT VERSUS

The terms IT and IT appeared at about the same time in the literature. The first created by the German engineer Karl Steinbach in 19571, the second by Harold J. Leavitt and Thomas L. Whistler in 1958 and appeared in Harvard Business Review. We already see the different origin of the two terms, scientific for the first, business for the second. The appearance of these terms has been a few years after the term computer, introduced for the first time in 1955 by IBM France, following a request from the manager of the advertising department of the company, François Girard. Previously, the term "computer" had only the meaning of "Calculator".

  

In the general population, the term computer is related to the concept "computer", in all its commercial forms: PC, tablet, mobile, etc., that is to say, the "Machine" and what it can do as a convenience (internet, games video, electronic gadgets). But this last common interpretation is obviously too reductive. In fact, IT encompasses all areas of scientific, technical and industrial aspects involving the automatic processing of information by "machines", whether at the theoretical, practical or industrial. The term computer is derived from the origin of the concatenation information and automatic words. The computer is an example of these "Machines", robots and automatons are others.

The term "information technology" (IT) refers to the application of "machines" for the storage, retrieval, transmission and manipulation of data, the more often in an industrial, business or corporate context. (The term Technology is defined as "the application of scientific knowledge to the production of goods and services "4 ). Because the notion of data transmission is inherent to IT, it's hard to talk about IT without referring to telecommunications, hence the broader term "information technology" and communications "(ICT), which is as widely used as IT and encompasses all types of "communicating machines", their use and the underlying tools (computer, telephone, mobile, TV, radio, microelectronics, photonics, etc.). In Europe, we also find the term telematic5  as synonymous with ICT but it is rarely used.

From these definitions, it can be concluded that the term computer is broader than that of IT because it is specific to the application aspects. But this interpretation is not accepted by all and certainly debatable, especially when we talk about IT and we have in mind ICT ... Certainly, reading these definitions, it is obvious that there is no clear separation between the two concepts but certainly, at least, a juxtaposition. To clarify (or mix!) further, here are some examples of areas that I believe are more IT or IT.

•    Rather "computer" type: programming languages, processing automatic visual, sound and text information, software engineering, "data analytics », knowledge representation, semantics, systems operating, software ergonomics, software development, interaction the analytic aspects of big data.

• More like "IT" (ICT): computer design, networking, maintenance systems, Internet, social networks, interoperability, architecture, hardware, management, processor, storage and databases, web technologies, cloud computing, microelectronics, the storage and accessibility aspects of the "Big data".