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There is More Than One Way to Become a Good Programmer
A recent Communications of the ACM article casts aspersions on the innovative concept of code academy, a fast-developing approach to teaching programming. The analysis in this article, based on my own experience developing a code academy in the past three years, shows that there is no justification for such contempt. Code academies are a different approach, complementing the traditional university model; they do not offer everything that universities do (and do not pretend to), but also provide a number of benefits not available from university education. They can also serve to provide university graduates with new expertise. They fill industry's crying need for good software developers. They are a complement to universities (and MOOCs), not a competitor, and have earned their place in the battery of educational models.
Talented Programmers Don’t Tolerate Chaos
Talented programmers will strive to structure chaos and write perfect code.
Why IT Professionals Get A Bad Rap For Their Communications
Tips for improving business IT communications.
Sizing the U.S. Student Cohort for Computer Science
Mark Guzdial considers indicators that U.S. K-12 students will study computer science.
Why Is There No Well-Known Swiss IT Industry?
Herbert Bruderer asks why no information technology industry emerged in Switzerland in the 1950s, despite the appearance of computers from several sources.
Not So Good After All? Don’t Let ‘Altruism’ Kill Your Company
Altruism is often heralded as a panacea for management challenges, but it could actually be a death sentence for your team and projects. Here's why.
A personalized take on three things we have to celebrate about the Internet today.
Evolution Through Revolution: Getting Your Team to Embrace Change
Don't accept the status quo. Instead, build a team willing to fight for positive change.
Computing Continues to Dominate STEM Career Opportunities
According to the most recent (2018-28) U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, the top five STEM career opportunities are all in computing.
Artificial intelligence began in 1912, with the world's first chess automaton built by Torres Quevedo.
The CUE.NEXT workshops aim to provide computing education for all undergraduates.
In Search of the Shortest Possible Schedule
Bertrand Meyer considers how to speed up software engineering.
AI is to Medicine Today What the X-ray was to Medicine a Century Ago, and Much More…
Guest blogger Jiajie Zhang says the continuing evolution of medical artificial intelligence will produce increasingly advanced applications to improve patient care, disease prevention, and biomedical discovery.
Getting High School, College Students Interested in CS
Mark Guzdial considers how few U.S. high school students take computer science, while Robin K. Hill shares what she's learned in teaching first-year college computing students.
Knowing the notion of sufficient completeness and the theory of abstract data types helps practitioners produce better requirements.
Leonardo da Vinci’s Robot Lion
We are celebrating the 500th anniversary of Leonardo da Vinci's death with a major exhibition of the Renaissance painter's works.
The Size of Computing Education Today, By The Numbers
How many students learn general-purpose programming today, compared to using other computing environments or learning other STEM subjects?
Yegor Bugayenko explains his realization that software developers should go neither above nor beyond.
The Shortest Possible Schedule Theorem: Yes, You Can Throw Money at Software Deadlines
As close as we have to a universal law of software engineering management.
If We Want Women to Persist in Computing, Teach Them Programming – At Any Age
Two recent reports point to the important of teaching female students to program and that it's never "too late."
Pinning Down Variables, and Taking an Agile Approach
Robin K. Hill tries to better define variables, while Edwin Torres acknowledges he is his own greatest obstacle.
Shape the Future of Computing
ACM encourages its members to take a direct hand in shaping the future of the association. There are more ways than ever to get involved.
Get InvolvedCommunications of the ACM (CACM) is now a fully Open Access publication.
By opening CACM to the world, we hope to increase engagement among the broader computer science community and encourage non-members to discover the rich resources ACM has to offer.
Learn More