Ask HN: What are current CS subfields in their infancy?

[uhno]

My wife (a chemist) and I were recently talking about Watson and Crick and other work that had a significant impact on the life sciences. She asked an interesting question which I was unable to satisfactorily answer:

What are some examples of computer science subfields which are in their infancy today?

Two examples I came up with were quantum computing and nanoscale computing+robotics. These are fields which (to my knowledge) are still in their infancy today but which I think will have a significant impact within the somewhat near future. It's also perhaps interesting that both of those subfields are interdisciplinary and not pure CS.

This is a train of thought along the same lines as Richard Hamming's "You and Your Research" talk (http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~robins/YouAndYourResearch.html). While I think Hamming comes across here as elitist and arrogant, he does have an interesting point: if you don't know what the important problems or areas are in your field, you can't be an effective representative.

[MalcolmDiggs]

I'd argue that AI, or more specifically "soft computing" is still nascent. Not so much in the theory behind it, but in practical/everyday applications having access to enough computing resources to do anything with it.