September 1983 - Vol. 26 No. 9
Features
From Washington: Secrecy versus scientific communication
There are many issues that affect the health of science but none more pervasive than the problem of “secrecy vs. scientific communication.” Unfortunately much…
Programming pearls: Aha algorithms
The study of algorithms has much to offer the practicing programmer. After just a course or two on the subject, students take away algorithms for solving many important…
Introduction to the fifth generation
In October 1981, Japan's Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) sponsored a conference to announce a new national project. Alongside national projects in…
The Japanese approach: a better way to manage programmers?
With a turnover rate among computer programmers of 25%-50% per year, it's time somebody came up with a better way to manage computer professionals. One approach that…
The fifth generation project — a trip report
As part of Japan's effort to become a leader in the computer industry, the Institute for New Generation Computer Technology has launched a revolutionary ten-year plan for…
Cooperation is key: an interview with B. R. Inman
The most innovative and audacious among the U.S. responses to Japan's Fifth Generation Project is that of the Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corp. MCC is a…
A simple database language for personal computers
A simple database language for personal computers has been implemented by selecting a subset of the ANS MUMPS language and enhancing it so as to meet the requirements of…
A practical tool kit for making portable compilers
The Amsterdam Compiler Kit is an integrated collection of programs designed to simplify the task of producing portable (cross) compilers and interpreters. For each…
An empirical study of insertion and deletion in binary search trees
This paper describes an experiment on the effect of insertions and deletions on the path length of unbalanced binary search trees. Repeatedly inserting and deleting nodes…
Optimal paths in graphs with stochastic or multidimensional weights
This paper explores computationally tractable formulations of stochastic and multidimensional optimal path problems, each as an extension of the shortest path problem. A…
A diagnosis of beginning programmers’ misconceptions of BASIC programming statements
In the process of learning a computer language, beginning programmers may develop mental models for the language. A mental model refers to the user's conception of the…