July 2017 - Vol. 60 No. 7

Features

Opinion Editor's letter Jul 1 2017

It is with great pleasure that I take the helm as the ninth Editor-in-Chief of Communications, the flagship publication and ACM's vessel for the most important and interesting happenings across the field of computing.

Andrew A. Chien

Computing Profession

Opinion Cerf's up Jul 1 2017

A Brittle and Fragile Future

While this is not intended to be a dystopian rant, I feel strongly motivated to draw attention to the fragile and interdependent future we are creating through the use of programmable devices and systems.

Vinton G. Cerf

Computing Profession

BLOG@CACM Jul 1 2017

‘Generation CS’ Drives Growth in Enrollments

Undergraduates who understand the importance of computer science have been expanding the CS student cohort for more than a decade.

Mark Guzdial

Computing Profession

News Jul 1 2017

Building a Brain May Mean Going Analog

Analog circuits consume less power per operation than CMOS technologies, and so should prove more efficient.

Neil Savage

Architecture and Hardware

Building a Brain May Mean Going Analog, illustration

News Jul 1 2017

Cracking the Code on DNA Storage

Researchers are tapping DNA to create a new and different type of storage media. The technology could prove revolutionary.

Samuel Greengard

Computing Applications

Cracking the Code on DNA Storage, illustrative photo

News Jul 1 2017

Artificial Intelligence Poised to Ride a New Wave

Flush with recent successes, and pushed by even newer technology, AI systems could get much smarter.

Gary Anthes

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

News Jul 1 2017

Jean E. Sammet 1928-2017

Jean E. Sammet, an American computer scientist who served as the first female president of ACM, passed away on May 21 at the age of 89.

Lawrence M. Fisher

Computing Profession

Opinion Privacy and security Jul 1 2017

Cryptovirology: The Birth, Neglect, and Explosion of Ransomware

Recent attacks exploiting a known vulnerability continue a downward spiral of ransomware-related incidents.

Adam L. Young and Moti Yung

Security and Privacy

Opinion Economic and business dimensions Jul 1 2017

Unknowns of the Gig-Economy

Seeking multidisciplinary research into the rapidly evolving gig-economy.

Brad Greenwood, Gordon Burtch, and Seth Carnahan

Computing Applications

Unknowns of the Gig-Economy, illustrative photo

Opinion The profession of IT Jul 1 2017

The Beginner’s Creed

We all need to learn to be expert beginners.

Peter J. Denning

Computing Applications

Opinion Viewpoint Jul 1 2017

The Informal Guide to ACM Fellow Nominations

Recommendations for a successful nomination process.

Marc Snir

Computing Applications

The Informal Guide to ACM Fellow Nominations, illustrative photo

Practice Jul 1 2017

Side Effects, Front and Center

One system's side effect is another's meat and potatoes.

Pat Helland

Computing Applications

Side Effects, Front and Center, illustrative photo

Practice Jul 1 2017

The IDAR Graph

An improvement over UML.

Mark A. Overton

Computing Applications

Practice Jul 1 2017

Research For Practice: Tracing and Debugging Distributed Systems; Programming By Examples

Expert-curated guides to the best of CS research.

Peter Bailis, Peter Alvaro, and Sumit Gulwani

Computing Applications

Research and Advances Contributed articles Jul 1 2017

Reimagining the Avatar Dream: Modeling Social Identity in Digital Media

Explore the limits of using the computer to imagine yourself as whomever or whatever you want to be.

D. Fox Harrell and Chong-U Lim

Computing Applications

Research and Advances Contributed articles Jul 1 2017

How Important Is IT?

Information and communication technology patents are more influential on subsequent inventions than are other types of patents.

Pantelis Koutroumpis, Aija Leiponen, and Llewellyn D W Thomas

Computing Applications

Research and Advances Review article Jul 1 2017

Inference and Auction Design in Online Advertising

Econometrics is a key component to gauging user satisfaction and advertisers' profits.

Denis Nekipelov and Tammy Wang

Computing Applications

Inference and Auction Design in Online Advertising, illustration

Research and Advances Research highlights Jul 1 2017

Technical Perspective: Ironfleet Simplifies Proving Safety and Liveness Properties

"IronFleet: Proving Safety and Liveness of Practical Distributed Systems," by Chris Hawblitzel, et al., describes mechanically checked proofs for two non-trivial distributed services: A Paxos-based library to support replication and a shared key-value store.

Fred B. Schneider

Architecture and Hardware

Research and Advances Research highlights Jul 1 2017

Ironfleet: Proving Safety and Liveness of Practical Distributed Systems

We demonstrate the methodology on a complex implementation of a Paxos-based replicated state machine library and a lease-based sharded key-value store. With our methodology and lessons learned, we aim to raise the standard for distributed systems from "tested" to "correct."

Architecture and Hardware

Research and Advances Research highlights Jul 1 2017

Technical Perspective: Building a Better Hash Function

In "Fast and Powerful Hashing Using Tabulation," Mikkel Thorup describes a variation of simple but surprisingly effective and powerful hash functions based on using small tables of random hash values.

Michael Mitzenmacher

Systems and Networking

Research and Advances Research highlights Jul 1 2017

Fast and Powerful Hashing Using Tabulation

We survey recent results on how simple hashing schemes based on tabulation provide unexpectedly strong guarantees.

Mikkel Thorup

Systems and Networking

Fast and Powerful Hashing Using Tabulation, illustration

Opinion Last byte Jul 1 2017

Ruby Risks

You have three covered boxes of Burmese rubies before you. You know there are a total of 30 identical seven-carat rubies in the three boxes.

Dennis Shasha

Computing Applications

Recent Issues

Explore the Issue Archive