Systems and Networking – Page 24 – Communications of the ACM

Research and Advances Mar 1 2022

Technical Perspective: How Do Experts Learn New Programming Languages?

"Here We Go Again: Why Is It Difficult for Developers to Learn Another Programming Language?" by Shrestha et al. provides insight into the difficulty of learning new languages and suggests paths forward to addressing it.

Jonathan Aldrich

question mark inside coding brackets in a word balloon

Research and Advances Mar 1 2022

Here We Go Again: Why Is It Difficult for Developers to Learn Another Programming Language?

Our findings demonstrate that interference is a widespread phenomenon, forcing programmers to adopt suboptimal, opportunistic learning strategies.

Nischal Shrestha, Colton Botta, Titus Barik, and Chris Parnin

Research and Advances Mar 1 2022

Toward Systematic Architectural Design of Near-Term Trapped Ion Quantum Computers

Toward realizing QCCD-based trapped ion systems with 50-100 qubits, we perform an extensive application-driven architectural study evaluating the key design choices of trap sizing, communication topology, and operation implementation methods.

Prakash Murali, Dripto M. Debroy, Kenneth R. Brown, and Margaret Martonosi

rings of arrows pointing to a single ion, illustration

Opinion Mar 1 2022

Mining Energy from ‘Empty’ Air

Shyam Gollakota on the benefits of reducing the power consumption of communication and tapping ambient signals for electricity.

Leah Hoffmann

Shyam Gollakota of the University of Washington

News Feb 24 2022

Medical Digital Twins: a New Frontier

Today, a digital twin of the pancreas; tomorrow, the immune system?

Allyn Jackson | Commissioned by CACM Staff

News Feb 22 2022

Digital Technology Fans Firefighting

New tools help firefighters identify the dynamics and characteristics of a fire—and respond more effectively.

Samuel Greengard | Commissioned by CACM Staff

News Feb 17 2022

A Source of Security Challenges for Years to Come

Cybersecurity experts agree the recently uncovered Log4Shell software vulnerability is the most dangerous on record.

David Geer | Commissioned by CACM Staff

BLOG@CACM Feb 16 2022

Data Anonymization Using the Random Sum Method

The purpose of this blog post is to present an anonymization method that can be applied to the digital attributes of personal data.

Alina Alemaskina and Andrei Sukhov

News Feb 15 2022

Trying On Smart Clothes

Smart clothing is coming into fashion.

Jake Widman | Commissioned by CACM Staff

News Feb 10 2022

Plastic Chips Bend Computing

Cheap, flexible processors could be a step on the road to the Internet of Everything.

Samuel Greengard | Commissioned by CACM Staff

PlasticARM plastic-based flexible microchips.

News Feb 3 2022

A Revolution in Haptics

New technology solutions allow users to 'touch' the virtual.

Paul Marks

News Feb 1 2022

Solving for Why

A focus on causality is promising to help researchers overcome shortcomings that have bedeviled more traditional approaches to artificial intelligence.

Marina Krakovsky

News Feb 1 2022

Virtual Duplicates

Digital twins aim to model reality so we can see how it changes.

Neil Savage

engine illustration next to a shadowy engine illustration

News Feb 1 2022

Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and the Fight Against World Hunger

Advancements in AI, machine learning, and next-gen technologies are transforming the fight against world hunger.

Logan Kugler

percentage labels on patches of farmland, illustration

Opinion Feb 1 2022

I Unplugged What?

The lessons here are broader than just a simple "Don't do that."

George V. Neville-Neil

hand holding unconnected cable up to ceiling

Opinion Feb 1 2022

Becoming Universal

A new history of modern computing.

Thomas Haigh

Opinion Feb 1 2022

A Brave New World of Mediated Online Discourse

Is artificial intelligence up to the task of managing online discourse in social networks?

Erich Prem

Practice Feb 1 2022

Static Analysis at GitHub

An experience report.

Timothy Clem and Patrick Thomson

Practice Feb 1 2022

Designing UIs for Static-Analysis Tools

Evaluating tool design guidelines with SWAN.

Daniil Tiganov, Lisa Nguyen Quang Do, and Karim Ali