Electronic markets and electronic hierarchies
By reducing the costs of coordination, information technology will lead to an overall shift toward proportionately more use of markets—rather than hierarchies—to coordinate economic activity.
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An empirical validation of software cost estimation models
Practitioners have expressed concern over their inability to accurately estimate costs associated with software development. This concern has become even more pressing as costs associated with development continue to increase. As a result, considerable research attention is now directed at gaining a better understanding of the software-development process as well as constructing and evaluating software cost estimating tools. This paper evaluates four of the most popular algorithmic models used to estimate software costs (SLIM, COCOMO, Function Points, and ESTIMACS). Data on 15 large completed business data-processing projects were collected and used to test the accuracy of the models' ex post effort estimation. One important result was that Albrecht's Function Points effort estimation model was validated by the independent data provided in this study [3]. The models not developed in business data-processing environments showed significant need for calibration. As models of the software-development process, all of the models tested failed to sufficiently reflect the underlying factors affecting productivity. Further research will be required to develop understanding in this area.
Taking “computer literacy” literally
Computer literacy implies an analogy between computer-related skills and linguistic literacy that has not been seriously explored. Recent studies of linguistic literacy can illuminate the definition of computer literacy and can suggest new ways of teaching it.
This report summarizes the activities of the Computing Sciences Accreditation Board from its inception in 1984 through its first accreditation cycle completed in June 1986. The major activities during this period were directed at developing the CSAB structure necessary to carry out the accreditation process, and at conducting the first round of accreditation visits and actions.
Distribution of mathematical software via electronic mail
A large collection of public-domain mathematical software is now available via electronic mail. Messages sent to "netlib@anl-mcs" (on the Arpanet/CSNET) or to "research!netlib" (on the UNIX® network) wake up a server that distributes items from the collection. The one-line message "send index" causes a library catalog to be sent by return mail.
Intelligent information-sharing systems
The Information Lens system is a prototype intelligent information-sharing system that is designed to include not only good user interfaces for supporting the problem-solving activity of individuals, but also good organizational interfaces for supporting the problem-solving activities of groups.
A mathematically focused curriculum for computer science
A curriculum that is flexible enough to suit all students studying computer science, and that reintegrates the theoretical aspects of the field along with more practical or vocational aspects, is proposed.
Case study: IBM’s system/360-370 architecture
The architecture of IBM's System/360-370 series of compatible processors is one of the most durable artifacts of the computer age. Through two major revisions of the product line and 23 years of technological change, it has remained a viable and versatile interface between machine and user.
Attributes of the performance of central processing units: a relative performance prediction model
Using readily available data on CPU characteristics—main memory size, cache memory size, number of channels, and machine cycle time—it is possible to predict relative CPU performance for a wide range of machines. Statistical analyses indicate that these characteristics explain virtually all the variance in relative performance.
Computer science: the emergence of a discipline
The continued rapid development of computer science will require an expansion of the science base and an influx of talented new researchers. Computers have already altered the way we think and live; now they will begin to elevate our knowledge of the world.
The quest for efficiency in computational methods yields not only fast algorithms, but also insights that lead to elegant, simple, and general problem-solving methods.
An interview with the 1986 A. M. Turing Award recipients—John E. Hopcroft and Robert E. Tarjan
In the following interview, which took place at the 1986 Fall Joint Computer Conference in Dallas, Texas, John Hopcroft and Robert Tarjan discuss their collaboration and its influence on their separate research today. They also comment on supercomputing and parallelism, particularly with regard to statements by FJCC Keynote speakers Kenneth Wilson, Nobel laureate and director of Cornell University's Supercomputer Center, and C. Gordon Bell, chief architect on the team that designed DEC's VAX and now with the National Science Foundation. Finally the Turing Award winners air their views on the direction of computer science as a whole and on funding and the Strategic Defense Initiative.
Computer system reliability and nuclear war
Given the devastating consequences of nuclear war, it is appropriate to look at current and planned uses of computers in nuclear weapons command and control systems, and to examine whether these systems can fulfill their intended roles.
An improved parallel thinning algorithm
An iterative thinning algorithm reduces a two-dimensional pattern of strokes to its skeleton by removing layers of edge elements until each stroke has unit thickness. A parallel solution requires the independent calculation of new values for each iteration, using a window of nearest neighbors for each element. The traditional need for at least two subiterations can be avoided by modifying the window to permit the availability of intermediate calculations. Timings on an ICL DAP (an array processor) indicate an improvement of over 40 percent. Additional refinements are suggested to reduce noise in the final skeleton.
Contention is no obstacle to shared-memory multiprocessing
Contention in large-scale shared-memory systems is less of a concern than generally believed. Through careful engineering of a parallel system, the effects of contention can be controlled.
The intensive use of memory to recall specific episodes from the past—rather than rules—should be the foundation of machine reasoning.
MIS in Soviet industrial enterprise: the limits of reform from above
The USSR has carried out a large-scale program to bring computer-based information systems, called Automated Enterprise Management Systems (ASUPs), to industrial enterprises. This program illustrates the extent to which computer-based information systems are inextricably embedded in the surrounding social, economic, and political systems.
The report of the ACM Longe-Range Planning Committee: a summary
The Committee evaluates ACM as it exists today, and makes recommendations for the future.
A self-assessment procedure dealing with computer organization and logic design
Presented here is the Computer Science Board's survey on the production and employment of Ph.D.'s and faculty in computer science and engineering.
Learning to program = learning to construct mechanisms and explanations
Teaching effective problem-solving skills in the context of teaching programming necessitates a revised curriculum for introductory computer programming courses.
Imbalance between growth and funding in academic computing science: two trends c
This report is endorsed by the Computer Science Board and prepared by the board's Committee on Research Funding in Computer Science.
Boxer: a reconstructible computational medium
Programming is most often viewed as a way for experts to get computers to perform complex tasks efficiently and reliably. Boxer presents an alternative image—programming as a way for nonexperts to control a reconstructible medium, much like written language, but with dramatically extended interactive capabilities.
Shape the Future of Computing
ACM encourages its members to take a direct hand in shaping the future of the association. There are more ways than ever to get involved.
Get InvolvedCommunications of the ACM (CACM) is now a fully Open Access publication.
By opening CACM to the world, we hope to increase engagement among the broader computer science community and encourage non-members to discover the rich resources ACM has to offer.
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