The Doctor of Philosophy, (PhD, Ph.D., DPhil or D.Phil.) is a degree a person gets from a university by finishing a doctorate program. In many areas of study, the PhD/DPhil is the highest degree that a person can earn (this is called the "terminal degree"). There are PhD/DPhil degrees for many different fields, such as PhDs/DPhils in literature, philosophy, history, science, mathematics, and engineering. Some PhD/DPhil degrees have existed for hundreds of years, such as the PhD/DPhil in Canon Law. Other PhD/DPhil degrees were developed in the 1970s and 1980s, such as the PhD/DPhil in Computer Science.