February 2020 - Vol. 63 No. 2

Features

Opinion Editor's letter Feb 1 2020

ACM owes its success to an amazing cadre of volunteers around the globe, and they deserve the credit for what ACM accomplishes.

Cherri M. Pancake

Computing Profession

Opinion Cerf's up Feb 1 2020

On Durability

I have become convinced that our consuming societies, at least in the economically "developed" world, have become sources of harm to ourselves and our planet.

Vinton G. Cerf

Computing Profession

BLOG@CACM Feb 1 2020

Sizing the U.S. Student Cohort for Computer Science

Mark Guzdial considers indicators that U.S. K-12 students will study computer science.

Mark Guzdial

Computing Profession

News Feb 1 2020

Learning to Trust Quantum Computers

They need to show us they can solve the biggest problems.

Chris Edwards

Architecture and Hardware

News Feb 1 2020

Dark Web’s Doppelgängers Aim to Dupe Antifraud Systems

Digital doppelgängers that fool online payment fraud detection systems are a threat to your bank balance.

Paul Marks

Computing Applications

similar figures representing digital doppelgangers, illustration

News Feb 1 2020

Tracking Shoppers

Retailers of all stripes are using technology to follow consumers through their brick-and-mortar stores in order to develop detailed profiles of their shopping habits and preferences.

Keith Kirkpatrick

Computing Applications

shopper with shopping cart standing in a target, illustration

Opinion Global computing Feb 1 2020

Are We Losing Momentum?

Estimating when the second half of the world will come online.

Carlos Iglesias, Dhanaraj Thakur, and Michael L. Best

Computing Profession

view of globe with interconnected lines, illustration

Opinion Inside risks Feb 1 2020

Are You Sure Your Software Will Not Kill Anyone?

Using software to control potentially unsafe systems requires the use of new software and system engineering approaches.

Nancy Leveson

Security and Privacy

sinking ship and other disasters, illustration

Opinion Kode Vicious Feb 1 2020

Numbers Are for Computers, Strings Are for Humans

How and where software should translate data into a human-readable form.

George V. Neville-Neil

Computing Applications

Opinion Viewpoint Feb 1 2020

When Human-Computer Interaction Meets Community Citizen Science

Empowering communities through citizen science.

Yen-Chia Hsu and Illah Nourbakhsh

Computing Applications

Opinion Viewpoint Feb 1 2020

Guiding Students to Develop Essential Skills

Students should interact with one another to practice skills and construct their own understanding, with assistance from a teacher acting as a coach and guide — not a lecturer.

Clif Kussmaul

Computing Profession

Practice Feb 1 2020

Opening Up the Baseboard Management Controller

If the CPU is the brain of the board, the BMC is the brain stem.

Jessie Frazelle

Architecture and Hardware

four control-related icons, illustration

Practice Feb 1 2020

Optimizations in C++ Compilers

A practical journey.

Matt Godbolt

Computing Applications

Research and Advances Contributed articles Feb 1 2020

Toward ML-Centric Cloud Platforms

Exploring the opportunities to use ML, the possible designs, and our experience with Microsoft Azure.

Architecture and Hardware

Research and Advances Contributed articles Feb 1 2020

Directions for Professional Social Matching Systems

Future PSM systems will require diversity-enhancing yet contextually sensitive designs.

Thomas Olsson, Jukka Huhtamäki, and Hannu Kärkkäinen

Computing Applications

professional social mapping system, illustration

Research and Advances Review articles Feb 1 2020

Fuzzing: Hack, Art, and Science

Reviewing software testing techniques for finding security vulnerabilities.

Patrice Godefroid

Computing Applications

Research and Advances Research highlights Feb 1 2020

Technical Perspective: Lighting the Way to Visual Privacy

"Automating Visual Privacy Protection Using a Smart LED," presents a new technique to address the issue of cameras capturing proprietary or private information—it stops most digital cameras from recording a useful image while the scene remains visible to human eyes.

Marco Gruteser

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Research and Advances Research highlights Feb 1 2020

Automating Visual Privacy Protection Using a Smart LED

We introduce LiShield, which automatically protects a physical scene against photographing, by illuminating it with smart LEDs flickering in specialized waveforms.

Shilin Zhu, Chi Zhang, and Xinyu Zhang

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Opinion Last byte Feb 1 2020

‘Everything Fails All the Time’

Werner Vogels, an expert on ultra-scalable systems, talks about listening to customers, reconceptualizing the stack, and building a product-centered culture.

Leah Hoffmann

Architecture and Hardware

Amazon chief technology officer Werner Vogels

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