Communications of the ACM
50 Years of Pascal
The Pascal programming language creator Niklaus Wirth reflects on its origin, spread, and further development.
From ACM Opinion
If an Algorithm Wrote This, How Would You Even Know?
Let me hazard a guess that you think a real person has written what you're reading. Maybe you're right. Maybe not.
From ACM Opinion
Here's What Will Truly Change Higher Education: Online Degrees That Are Seen as Official
Three years ago, technology was going to transform higher education. What happened?
From ACM Opinion
Outing A.I.: Beyond the Turing Test
Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) is having a moment, albeit one marked by crucial ambiguities.
From ACM Opinion
The Reality of Quantum Weirdness
In Akira Kurosawa's film "Rashomon," a samurai has been murdered, but it's not clear why or by whom.
From ACM Opinion
Google, Mighty Now, but Not Forever
Technology giants often meet their end not with a bang but a whimper, a slow, imperceptible descent into irrelevancy that may not immediately be reflected in the...
From ACM Opinion
How, and Why, Apple Overtook Microsoft
When Microsoft stock was at a record high in 1999, and its market capitalization was nearly $620 billion, the notion that Apple Computer would ever be bigger—let...
From ACM Opinion
Microsoft Hololens: A Sensational Vision of the Pc's Future
It's generally wise to take demonstrations of new technologies with a grain of salt.
From ACM Opinion
A Retreat For Google Glass and a Case Study in the Perils of Making Hardware
You won't have Glass to kick around anymore. At least not for a while.
From ACM Opinion
The Lesson of the Sony Hack: We Should All Jump to the 'erasable Internet'
This month's news provides yet another occasion for a friendly public-service reminder to anyone who uses a digital device to say anything to anyone, ever.
From ACM Opinion
Looking to Mars to Help Understand Changing Climates
Where now it stands the Plain of Gold did once my river flow.
From ACM Opinion
Turing's Spirit Hovers at a Restored Estate
When "Captain Ridley's shooting party" gathered here in late August 1938 as weekend guests at Bletchley Park, a Buckinghamshire country house, they were accompanied...
From ACM Opinion
Artificial Intelligence as a Threat
Ebola sounds like the stuff of nightmares. Bird flu and SARS also send shivers down my spine.
From ACM Opinion
Demystifying the Mooc
When massive open online courses first grabbed the spotlight in 2011, many saw in them promise of a revolutionary force that would disrupt traditional higher education...
From ACM Opinion
When Iphones Ring, the Economy Listens
Gloomy economic news and the wild swings of the stock market may be getting you down. But at least you can count on this: We’ve entered the sweet spot of the ...
From ACM Opinion
Christine Kenneally's 'invisible History of the Human Race'
Of Christine Kenneally’s father’s father—a man neither Kenneally nor her father ever knew, a man who did the deed requisite to reproduction and promptly vanished—she...
From ACM Opinion
To Siri, With Love
Just how bad a mother am I? I wondered, as I watched my 13-year-old son deep in conversation with Siri.
From ACM Opinion
The August Smart Lock Shows Why You Should Stick With Dumb Keys
You almost certainly don't need a digital smart lock for your front door.
From ACM Opinion
