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NITRD 20: A Day in Your Life
From BLOG@CACM

NITRD 20: A Day in Your Life

Progress in information technology over the past 20 years has dramatically changed our lives — in our daily routine, at play, and at work. 

Happy 20th Birthday to NITRD!
From BLOG@CACM

Happy 20th Birthday to NITRD!

The theme of NITRD's 20th birthday symposium was to recognize that in just 20 years, computing research has made astounding progress and has had an astounding impact...

SC11: The Cray, Fernbach, and Kennedy Awards
From BLOG@CACM

SC11: The Cray, Fernbach, and Kennedy Awards

The Cray, Fernbach, and Kennedy awards and the work of the recipients reflect the evolving interplay of technology, software, applications and algorithms in advancing...

Exciting New Research Presented at Grace Hopper
From BLOG@CACM

Exciting New Research Presented at Grace Hopper

The Grace Hopper Conference includes a Ph.D. Forum that showcases the research of current Ph.D. students, with the additional goal of providing support and mentoring...

A Futuristic Health IT Scenario
From BLOG@CACM

A Futuristic Health IT Scenario

Our technology is the change agent for healthcare in the future.

From BLOG@CACM

John McCarthy

The contributions and personality of John McCarthy, one of the pioneers of computer science.

Analog Computing: Time For a Comeback?
From BLOG@CACM

Analog Computing: Time For a Comeback?

Use of the word "computer" conjures certain images. One of them, so deeply ingrained that we rarely question it, is that computing is digital. The alternative,...

New SQL: An Alternative to NoSQL and Old SQL For New OLTP Apps
From BLOG@CACM

New SQL: An Alternative to NoSQL and Old SQL For New OLTP Apps

New SQL should be considered as an alternative to NoSQL or Old SQL for New OLTP applications. If New OLTP is as big a market as I foresee, we will see many more...

Long Live Incremental Research!
From BLOG@CACM

Long Live Incremental Research!

“Break through!” clamor the funding agencies, which scorn “incremental” research. Sure, every human being needs hype; in truth, though, almost all research—good...

Embracing Noise or Why Computer Scientists Should Stop Worrying and Learn to Love the Errors
From BLOG@CACM

Embracing Noise or Why Computer Scientists Should Stop Worrying and Learn to Love the Errors

Precision is not required in everything or even most things.  Failures are best handled by expecting them all the time, not treating them as exceptions.  We should...

Why Have There Been So Many Security Breaches Recently?
From BLOG@CACM

Why Have There Been So Many Security Breaches Recently?

We're only five months into this year, but there have been a large number of sensational security breaches. Why have there been so many, and what can we do about...

Again: The One Sure Way to Advance Software Engineering
From BLOG@CACM

Again: The One Sure Way to Advance Software Engineering

There is one proven way to improve the state of software, following the the airline industry's spectacular improvements of safety. The IT industry ignores it. Why...

2010 Seymour Cray and Sidney Fernbach Awards
From BLOG@CACM

2010 Seymour Cray and Sidney Fernbach Awards

This year, I again had the honor and privilege to chair the selection committee for the IEEE Seymour Cray and Sidney Fernbach awards, both of which were presented...

SC10: Green500 and Booth 'Awards'
From BLOG@CACM

SC10: Green500 and Booth 'Awards'

 SC10 has included several lists that rank supercomputers according to different criteria. The November 2010 Green500, focusing on energy efficiency, is out and...

Welcome to SC10: Opening Keynote, Top500 List
From BLOG@CACM

Welcome to SC10: Opening Keynote, Top500 List

SC10—the premier conference for supercomputing—has begun. This post touches on a few highlights from the first day of the full technical program, including the...

Watts Humphrey: In Honor of a Pioneer
From BLOG@CACM

Watts Humphrey: In Honor of a Pioneer

Watts Humphrey left us a few weeks ago. His contributions to professional software engineering have been essential.

To Videolecture or Not
From BLOG@CACM

To Videolecture or Not

Should conferences cover the cost of a videolecture or not?  I say "yes."

HPC and the Excluded Middle
From BLOG@CACM

HPC and the Excluded Middle

Betwixt and between ubiquitous consumer software and the ethereal realm of ultra-high-performance computing, lies the excluded middle, the world of day-to-day computational...

Can Randomly Generated Code Fix Software Bugs?
From BLOG@CACM

Can Randomly Generated Code Fix Software Bugs?

Can the principles of evolution be applied to software code and used to improve it? Stephanie Forrest thinks so—and has some encouraging data to prove it.  

Fixing the Process of Computer Science Refereeing
From BLOG@CACM

Fixing the Process of Computer Science Refereeing

There is a simple way to make refereeing better, almost overnight. It takes a bit of courage, but it would restore honesty and quality to the process.
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