July 2012 - Vol. 55 No. 7

Features

Opinion Jul 1 2012

In a typical business, you have two parties: sellers and buyers. In scholarly publishing you also have sellers and buyers, these are the publishers and the research libraries. However, you have two additional parties. On one side, authors. On the other, editors and reviewers.

Moshe Y. Vardi

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Opinion Letters to the Editor Jul 1 2012

An Integral Number and Its Consequences

Pondering Moshe Y. Vardi's "What Is an Algorithm?" (Mar. 2012), one should consider that in its most abstract and tangible form an algorithm is simply an integral number and that an interpretation of an algorithm as an abstract state machine reflects this truth.

CACM Staff

BLOG@CACM Jul 1 2012

Mark Guzdial writes about why computer science should permeate popular culture. Judy Robertson discusses the educational benefits of using console games in the classroom.

Mark Guzdial and Judy Robertson

Computing Applications

News Jul 1 2012

Degrees of Separation

Researchers now have the capability to look at the small-world problem from both the traditional algorithmic approach and the new topological approach.

Gregory Goth

Architecture and Hardware

diagram of Facebook users and intermediaries

News Jul 1 2012

HTML5 Leads a Web Revolution

Propelled by a proliferation of mobile devices and social networks, an enhanced family of Web specifications is bringing new power to developers and new capabilities to users.

Gary Anthes

Computing Applications

New York City geolocation map on mobile screen

News Jul 1 2012

Patently Inadequate

The biggest change to U.S. patent law in nearly 60 years brings many changes, but fails to solve the software industry's most vexing problems.

Marina Krakovsky

Computing Applications

President Obama signing the America Invents Act

News Jul 1 2012

Lost and Found

Researchers discover computer pioneer Konrad Zuse's long-forgotten Z9, the world's first program-controlled binary relay calculator using floating-point arithmetic.

Paul Hyman

Architecture and Hardware

Konrad Zuse with reproduction of a mechanical computer

Opinion Technology strategy and management Jul 1 2012

Business Models For Strategy and Innovation

While often ambiguously defined, business models are central to innovation.

Mari Sako

Computing Applications

Business Models for Strategy and Innovation, illustration

Opinion Legally speaking Jul 1 2012

Can Online Piracy Be Stopped By Laws?

Considering the legal responsibilities of Internet intermediaries in the aftermath of the Stop Online Privacy Act controversy.

Pamela Samuelson

Computing Applications

Opinion Computing ethics Jul 1 2012

An Information Strategy For Environmental Sustainability

Many proposed solutions to the species-threatening transformations born of human industrialization have an engineering orientation. Often the suggested remedies do not adequately recognize the potential of information systems to greatly increase energy efficiency.

R. T. Watson, J. Corbett, M. C. Boudreau, and J. Webster

Computing Applications

An Information Strategy for Environmental Sustainability, illustration

Opinion Historical reflections Jul 1 2012

Alan Turing’s Other Universal Machine

All computer scientists know about the Universal Turing Machine, one of the foundation stones of theoretical computer science. Much less well known is the practical stored program computer Turing proposed after the war in February 1946.

Martin Campbell-Kelly

Architecture and Hardware

Jim Wilkinson and Donald Davies with the Pilot ACE

Opinion Viewpoint Jul 1 2012

Google’s Hybrid Approach to Research

By closely connecting research and development Google is able to conduct experiments on an unprecedented scale, often resulting in new capabilities for the company.

Alfred Spector, Peter Norvig, and Slav Petrov

Computing Applications

Opinion Viewpoint Jul 1 2012

The Challenges of Privacy By Design

Heralded by regulators, Privacy by Design holds the promise to solve the digital world's privacy problems. But there are immense challenges, including management commitment and step-by-step methods to integrate privacy into systems.

Sarah Spiekermann

Computing Applications

Practice Jul 1 2012

Controlling Queue Delay

Active queue management is just one piece of the solution to persistently full buffers.

Kathleen Nichols and Van Jacobson

Architecture and Hardware

Practice Jul 1 2012

My Compiler Does Not Understand Me

Until our programming languages catch up, code will be full of horrors.

Poul-Henning Kamp

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Practice Jul 1 2012

Getting What You Measure

There are four common pitfalls to avoid when using software metrics in a project management setting.

Eric Bouwers, Joost Visser, and Arie van Deursen

Computing Applications

desk lamp shining on man and pie chart, illustration

Research and Advances Contributed articles Jul 1 2012

Computational Folkloristics

A searchable meta-graph can connect even troublesome house elves and other supernatural beings to scholarly folk categories.

James Abello, Peter Broadwell, and Timothy R. Tangherlini

Computing Applications

Computational Folkloristics, illustration

Research and Advances Contributed articles Jul 1 2012

Large-Scale Complex IT Systems

The reductionism behind today's software-engineering methods breaks down in the face of systems complexity.

Architecture and Hardware

Research and Advances Contributed articles Jul 1 2012

Why On-Chip Cache Coherence Is Here to Stay

On-chip hardware coherence can scale gracefully as the number of cores increases.

Milo M. K. Martin, Mark D. Hill, and Daniel J. Sorin

Architecture and Hardware

Research and Advances Review articles Jul 1 2012

Behavioral Programming

A novel paradigm for programming reactive systems centered on naturally specified modular behavior.

David Harel, Assaf Marron, and Gera Weiss

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Research and Advances Research highlights Jul 1 2012

Technical Perspective: For Better or Worse, Benchmarks Shape a Field

Like other IT fields, computer architects initially reported incomparable results. We quickly saw the folly of this approach. We then went through a sequence of performance metrics. When a field has good benchmarks, we settle debates and the field makes rapid progress.

David Patterson

Architecture and Hardware

Research and Advances Research highlights Jul 1 2012

Looking Back and Looking Forward: Power, Performance, and Upheaval

The past 10 years have delivered two significant revolutions. Microprocessor design has been transformed — leading to multicore processors. And an entirely new software landscape has emerged — revolutionizing how software is deployed, is sold, and interacts with hardware.

Architecture and Hardware

Research and Advances Research highlights Jul 1 2012

Technical Perspective: Why Study the Price of Anarchy?

In 1999, Elias Koutsoupias and Christos Papadimitriou initiated the study of "How much worse off are we due to selfishness?" They compared the worst case pure Nash equilibria to the optimal solution. This ratio was later called the price of anarchy.

Amos Fiat

Systems and Networking

Research and Advances Research highlights Jul 1 2012

Intrinsic Robustness of the Price of Anarchy

The price of anarchy, defined as the ratio of the worst-case objective function value of a Nash equilibrium of a game and that of an optimal outcome, quantifies the inefficiency of selfish behavior.

Tim Roughgarden

Systems and Networking

Opinion Last byte Jul 1 2012

Future Tense: They Just Click

When glasses track glances, will eyes still meet across a crowded room?

Ken MacLeod

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Research and Advances Contributed articles: Virtual extension Jul 1 2012

Do Small IT Firms Benefit From Higher Process Capability?

Evidence suggests small firms can reap rewards from developing a high level of formal process capability.

Matthew Swinarski, Diane H. Parente, and Rajiv Kishore

Computing Applications

goldfish jumping from small fishbowl to bigger fishbowl

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