February 2018 - Vol. 61 No. 2

Features

Opinion From the chair of ACM-W Feb 1 2018

Achieving Gender Equity: ACM-W Can't Do It Alone

Why, with so much sustained effort by so many individuals and organizations, is progress toward gender equity so slow?

Jodi L. Tims

Computing Profession

Opinion Cerf's up Feb 1 2018

A Comprehensive Self-Driving Car Test

Every few years, I have to pass a test from the Department of Motor Vehicles to drive my car. Shouldn't a self-driving car be required to do the same thing?

Vinton G. Cerf

Architecture and Hardware

Opinion Letters to the editor Feb 1 2018

Toward an Equation that Anticipates AI Risks

It is our darkest fears that actually protect us the most. Could AI intensify such fears to levels beyond what we already know?

CACM Staff

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

BLOG@CACM Feb 1 2018

Protecting the Power Grid, and Finding Bias in Student Evaluations

The Communications Web site, http://cacm.acm.org, features more than a dozen bloggers in the BLOG@CACM community. In each issue of Communications, we'll publish selected posts or excerpts.twitterFollow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/blogCACMhttp://cacm.acm.org/blogs/blog-cacmJohn Arquilla considers the growth of cyberattacks on infrastructure, while Mark Guzdial wonders how beginning computer science students can possibly evaluate their teachers fairly.

John Arquilla and Mark Guzdial

Architecture and Hardware

News Feb 1 2018

Quantum Technology Forgoes Unconditional Security to Extend its Reach

Two projects in China demonstrate the possibility of global quantum key distribution networks.

Chris Edwards

Architecture and Hardware

quantum communication ground station, composite photo

News Feb 1 2018

Going Serverless

Serverless computing lets businesses and application developers focus on the program they need to run, without worrying about the machine on which it runs, or the resources it requires.

Neil Savage

Architecture and Hardware

News Feb 1 2018

The War Over the Value of Personal Data

In a world increasingly dependent on turning personal data into profits, it is unclear how much that data is actually worth.

Logan Kugler

Computing Profession

The War Over the Value of Personal Data, illustration

Opinion Inside risks Feb 1 2018

Risks of Trusting the Physics of Sensors

Protecting the Internet of Things with embedded security.

Kevin Fu and Wenyuan Xu

Security and Privacy

Risks of Trusting the Physics of Sensors, illustration

Opinion Education Feb 1 2018

The Inclusive and Accessible Workplace

Maximizing the performance of neurodiverse talent.

Sarah Wille and Daphne Sajous-Brady

Computing Profession

The Inclusive and Accessible Workplace, illustration

Opinion Kode Vicious Feb 1 2018

Reducing the Attack Surface

Sometimes you can give the monkey a less-dangerous club.

George V. Neville-Neil

Computing Applications

Reducing the Attack Surface, illustration

Opinion Viewpoint Feb 1 2018

Teaching Artificial Intelligence and Humanity

Considering rapidly evolving human-machine interactions.

Jennifer Keating and Illah Nourbakhsh

Computing Applications

Teaching Artificial Intelligence and Humanity, illustrative photo

Opinion Viewpoint Feb 1 2018

Innovation from the Edges

How innovation originates from market participants with multiple perspectives about commercial value.

Shane Greenstein

Computing Applications

Practice Feb 1 2018

Titus: Introducing Containers to the Netflix Cloud

Approaching container adoption in an already cloud-native infrastructure.

Andrew Leung, Andrew Spyker, and Tim Bozarth

Architecture and Hardware

Titus: Introducing Containers to the Netflix Cloud, illustration

Practice Feb 1 2018

Research For Practice: Private Online Communication; Highlights in Systems Verification

Expert-curated guides to the best of CS research.

Albert Kwon, James R. Wilcox, and Peter Bailis

Computing Applications

Practice Feb 1 2018

Views from the Top

Try to see things from a manager's perspective.

Kate Matsudaira

Computing Profession

Research and Advances Contributed articles Feb 1 2018

The Next Phase in the Digital Revolution: Intelligent Tools, Platforms, Growth, Employment

Digital technology determines how (and even whether) people work as much as it determines how information produces economic activity.

John Zysman and Martin Kenney

Computing Applications

Research and Advances Contributed articles Feb 1 2018

A Large-Scale Comparative Study of Beta Testers and Regular Users

Beta testers should represent a future product's target users as much as possible.

Vlasta Stavova, Lenka Dedkova, Martin Ukrop, and Vashek Matyas

Computing Applications

A Large-Scale Comparative Study of Beta Testers and Regular Users, illustrative photo

Research and Advances Review articles Feb 1 2018

Elements of the Theory of Dynamic Networks

The challenge of computing in a highly dynamic environment.

Othon Michail and Paul G. Spirakis

Computing Profession

Elements of the Theory of Dynamic Networks, illustrative photo

Research and Advances Research highlights Feb 1 2018

Technical Perspective: Building Bug-Free Compilers

What to do about buggy compilers? The authors of "Practical Verification of Peephole Optimizations with Alive" give us a compelling and practical answer.

Steve Zdancewic

Computing Applications

Research and Advances Research highlights Feb 1 2018

Practical Verification of Peephole Optimizations with Alive

We created Alive, a domain-specific language for writing correct peephole optimizations and for automatically either proving them correct or else generating counterexamples.

Nuno P. Lopes, David Menendez, Santosh Nagarakatte, and John Regehr

Computing Applications

Practical Verification of Peephole Optimizations with Alive, illustration

Research and Advances Research highlights Feb 1 2018

Technical Perspective: Designing Algorithms and the Fairness Criteria They Should Satisfy

"Which Is the Fairest (Rent Division) of Them All?" focuses on the problem of rent division, and stands out in the variety of techniques applied to arrive at a solution.

Vincent Conitzer

Computing Applications

Research and Advances Research highlights Feb 1 2018

Which Is the Fairest (Rent Division) of Them All?

What is a fair way to assign rooms to several housemates, and divide the rent between them? We develop a general algorithmic framework that enables the computation of solutions in polynomial time that optimize a criterion of social justice, subject to the envy freeness constraint.

Kobi Gal, Ariel D. Procaccia, Moshe Mash, and Yair Zick

Computing Applications

Which Is the Fairest (Rent Division) of Them All? illustration

Opinion Last byte Feb 1 2018

Welcome to the Singularity

Who can say no to the hive mind's promise of cybernetic immortality, for free?

David Allen Batchelor

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

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