September 2015 - Vol. 58 No. 9

Features

Opinion Sep 1 2015

Should Conferences Meet Journals and Where?: A Proposal For 'PACM'

The ACM Publications Board Conferences Committee has been working on a proposal that brings together conference and journal publishing. Here, we offer some background leading up to this proposal, summarize the plan, and solicit your input.

Joseph A. Konstan and Jack W. Davidson

Computing Applications

Opinion Sep 1 2015

On (Computing) Artifacts

Computers and, especially, computer programs may be among the least well understood artifacts known to mankind.

Vinton G. Cerf

Computing Applications

Opinion Letters to the Editor Sep 1 2015

May the Computational Force Be with You

There are many open questions in complexity theory concerning "a deeper reality below the one we perceive" that may be relevant, even fundamental, to Yannis Papakonstantinou's Viewpoint "Created Computed Universe" (June 2015).

CACM Staff

Computing Applications

BLOG@CACM Sep 1 2015

Moving Beyond the Cold War

John Arquilla assesses the need for cyber arms control.

John Arquilla

Computing Applications

News Sep 1 2015

Split Second

The issue of whether to add a "leap second" to square the clock with the Earth's orbit pits time specialists against IT.

Neil Savage

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

News Sep 1 2015

Sensing Emotions

How computer systems detect the internal emotional states of users.

Gregory Mone

Computing Applications

News Sep 1 2015

New News Aggregator Apps

How apps like Inkl and SmartNews are overcoming the challenges of aggregation to win over content publishers and users alike.

Logan Kugler

Computing Applications

Opinion Historical reflections Sep 1 2015

Innovators Assemble: Ada Lovelace, Walter Isaacson, and the Superheroines of Computing

Can computing history be both inspiring and accurate?

Thomas Haigh and Mark Priestley

Computing Applications

Opinion Law and technology Sep 1 2015

The Rise of the Robo Notice

Examining the conflicting claims involving the use of automated tools in copyright-related notice-and-takedown procedures.

Joe Karaganis and Jennifer Urban

Computing Applications

The Rise of the Robo Notice, illustration

Opinion Global computing Sep 1 2015

The Value of Social Theories For Global Computing

Conceptual toolkits for projects that work.

Dorothea Kleine

Computing Applications

The Value of Social Theories for Global Computing, illustration

Opinion The profession of IT Sep 1 2015

Automated Education and the Professional

Technology boffins argue the new technologies of intelligent personal learning environments will put universities out of business. Will the purported successor, an automated global virtual university, be up to the task of professional education?

Peter J. Denning

Computing Applications

Automated Education and the Professional, illustrative photo

Opinion Viewpoint Sep 1 2015

Experiments as Research Validation: Have We Gone Too Far?

Reconsidering conference paper reviewers' requirements for experimental evidence.

Jeffrey D. Ullman

Computing Applications

Experiments as Research Validation, illustration

Opinion Viewpoint Sep 1 2015

Theory Without Experiments: Have We Gone Too Far?

Seeking a better understanding of computing through a mixture of theory and appropriate experimental evidence.

Michael Mitzenmacher

Computing Applications

Theory Without Experiments, illustration

Opinion Point/Counterpoint Sep 1 2015

The Pros and Cons of the ‘PACM’ Proposal: Point

In "Should Conferences Meet Journals and Where?" ACM Publications Board co-chairs Joseph A. Konstan and Jack W. Davidson introduce a proposal that would interweave conference and journal publishing. Here, computer scientist Kathryn S. McKinley argues for and against the proposal.

Kathryn S. McKinley

Computing Applications

The Pros and Cons of the 'PACM' Proposal, illustration

Opinion Point/Counterpoint Sep 1 2015

The Pros and Cons of the ‘PACM’ Proposal: Counterpoint

David S. Rosenblum

Computing Applications

Practice Sep 1 2015

Natural Language Translation at the Intersection of AI and HCI

Old questions being answered with both AI and HCI.

Spence Green, Jeffrey Heer, and Christopher D. Manning

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Natural Language Translation at the Intersection of AI and HCI, illustration

Practice Sep 1 2015

Testing a Distributed System

Testing a distributed system can be trying even under the best of circumstances.

Philip Maddox

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Testing a Distributed System, illustrative photo

Research and Advances Contributed articles Sep 1 2015

Trustworthy Hardware from Untrusted Components

This defense-in-depth approach uses static analysis and runtime mechanisms to detect and silence hardware backdoors.

Architecture and Hardware

Trustworthy Hardware from Untrusted Components, illustration

Research and Advances Contributed articles Sep 1 2015

Debugging High-Performance Computing Applications at Massive Scales

Dynamic analysis techniques help programmers find the root cause of bugs in large-scale parallel applications.

Architecture and Hardware

Debugging High-Performance Computing Applications at Massive Scales, illustrative photo

Research and Advances Contributed articles Sep 1 2015

On the Categorization of Scientific Citation Profiles in Computer Science

A new dynamic growth model reveals how citation networks evolve over time, pointing the way toward reformulated scientometrics.

Computing Applications

On the Categorization of Scientific Citation Profiles in Computer Science, illustration

Research and Advances Review articles Sep 1 2015

Commonsense Reasoning and Commonsense Knowledge in Artificial Intelligence

AI has seen great advances of many kinds recently, but there is one critical area where progress has been extremely slow: ordinary commonsense.

Ernest Davis and Gary Marcus

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Commonsense Reasoning and Commonsense Knowledge in Artificial Intelligence, illustration

Research and Advances Review articles Sep 1 2015

Bitcoin: Under the Hood

The myths, the hype, and the true worth of bitcoins.

Aviv Zohar

Computing Applications

Research and Advances Research highlights Sep 1 2015

Technical Perspective: A Woodworker’s Easy Fix

The authors of "Guided Exploration of Physically Valid Shapes for Furniture Design" have found a way to provide the user with instant feedback on how to fix unstable or toppling wooden panel constructions.

Marc Alexa

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Research and Advances Research highlights Sep 1 2015

Guided Exploration of Physically Valid Shapes For Furniture Design

The authors propose an interactive design framework for the efficient and intuitive exploration of geometrically and physically valid shapes.

Nobuyuki Umentani, Takeo Igarashi, and Niloy J. Mitra

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Opinion Last byte Sep 1 2015

Q&A: A Passion For Pairings

Dan Boneh on pairing-based cryptography, multilinear maps, and how an 1,800-year-old "intellectual curiosity" became the foundation of all secure network traffic.

Leah Hoffmann

Computing Applications

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