Most people if asked would reply “Machine Learning” or “AI”.
I took courses on them and was pretty much disappointed. Machine Learning turned out to be exactly what I thought it would be – data analysis and using some algorithm in top of it to figure out stuff.
I thought it would be more interesting. Machine Learning is a lot of math and statistics. Not sure how many people would find it as exciting as popular media shows it to be.
However, one course which really intrigued me was Cryptography and Network Security. We learned about Modern Cryptography, Cryptographic Protocols, Network Security, Web Security.
We literally “hacked” into websites and softwares exploiting various vulnerabilities. The course had a lab component too which made things even more interesting.
I feel that Cryptography and NetSec is a really underappreciated field in Computer Science – and it’s importance is growing every year. I feel that in 5–10 years it will replace ML as the “hottest field out there”.
Studying various attacks and figuring out their remedies gives a detective/007 feel, and I’m not kidding.
If you ask me – the best field is Crypto graphy and Security.