ACM's primary competitor is the [[IEEE Computer Society]]. It is difficult to generalize accurately about the distinction between the two, but ACM focuses on theoretical [[computer science]] and end-user applications while IEEE focuses more on hardware and standardization issues. Another blunt way to state the difference is that ACM is for [[computer science|computer scientists]] and IEEE is for [[electrical engineering|electrical engineers]], although the largest IEEE subgroup is its Computer Society. Of course, there is significant overlap between the two organizations, and they occasionally cooperate on projects like developing computer science curricula.
