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In CS 50:

This is CS50, Harvard University's introduction to the intellectual enterprises of computer science and the art of programming.

What is the definition of "enterprise" here?

I found two seemingly correct definitions in Longman Advanced American Dictionary:

  1. [uncountable] the activity of starting and running businesses:
  2. [uncountable] the ability to think of new activities or ideas and make them work:

Which one is correct?

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  • If you look at the rest of CS50's webpage, it describes the contents of the course. It mentions nothing about starting and running businesses.
    – Peter Shor
    Commented Dec 30, 2019 at 12:25
  • In your context, it's essentially the first definition here: A project or undertaking, especially a bold or complex one. It's just that the "commercially oriented" implications have become increasingly common lately, but they're not inherent to the term itself.
    – FumbleFingers
    Commented Dec 30, 2019 at 13:47

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In this case, I believe that enterprise would mean something more akin to the word 'field' or 'area'. The term 'intellectual enterprise' adds little in meaning to the sentence- all that it's saying is that Harvard is offering an introduction to computer science, and the word 'enterprise' simply emphasises the sense of computer science being an intellectual field of study.

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