علوم الحاسب الآلي لديها عدد من المجالات الرئيسية الفرعية التي يمكن تصنيفها من قبل عدد من وسائل (على سبيل المثال في نظام تصنيف إيه سي إم ).

formal processes used for computation, and the efficiency of these processes

design and development software for everyday use

implementation and study of systems that exhibit (either behaviourally or seemingly) an autonomous intelligence or behaviour of their own, sometimes inspired by the characteristics of living beings.

Computer science is closely tied with AI, as software and computers are primary tools for the development and progression of artificial intelligence

ways of efficiently translating algorithms from one form (usually a programming language) to another

fundamental bounds (esp. time and storage space) on computations

the act of writing algorithms in a programming language

algorithms both for generating visual images synthetically and for integrating or altering visual and spatial information sampled from the real world

the science and technology of machines that see.

As a scientific discipline, computer vision is concerned with the theory behind artificial systems that extract information from images (aimed to perform as good as humans do).

algorithms for protecting private data, including encryption

the process of sorting through large amounts of data and picking out relevant information.; closely related to information retrieval

the organization and storage of data

algorithms and protocols for reliably communicating data across long distances, often including error correction

systems for managing computer programs and data structures

formal languages for expressing algorithms and the properties of these languages

algorithms for controlling the behavior of robots

algorithms for use in the sciences, especially (but not exclusively) biology (as in bioinformatics ), physics , and chemistry

the process of designing, developing, and testing programs

algorithms for covertly hiding data in seemingly unrelated documents, such as graphics

formal analysis of the types of data, and the use of these types to understand properties of programs, especially program safety