Communications of the ACM
DEPARTMENT: Editor's letter
DEPARTMENT: Publisher's corner
DEPARTMENT: Letters to the editor
DEPARTMENT: blog@CACM
DEPARTMENT: CACM online
COLUMN: News
COLUMN: Viewpoints
SECTION: Practice
SECTION: Contributed articles
SECTION: Review articles
SECTION: Research highlights
COLUMN: Last byte
SECTION: Virtual extension
Open, Closed, or Clopen Access?
A frequent question I hear about Communications, and about ACM publishing in general, involves its access model. I am asked: "Why don't you adopt the open-access model?" Good question! Why don't we?DEPARTMENT: Publisher's corner
Communications' Annual Report Card
This issue marks the first anniversary of the completely revamped Communications, so I thought it would be appropriate to report on how we're doing so far.DEPARTMENT: Letters to the editor
Inspire with Introductory Computer Science
Mark Guzdial's Viewpoint "Teaching Computing to Everyone" (May 2009) was interesting reading but included several implications, possibly unintentional, that should be corrected.DEPARTMENT: blog@CACM
Sharing Ideas, Writing Apps, and Creating a Professional Web Presence
Greg Linden reveals his new approach to reading research papers, Mark Guzdial discusses how to encourage students to write computer programs, and Tessa Lau shares her ideas about the importance of Web visibility.DEPARTMENT: CACM online
Moving Forward and Backward
COLUMN: News
Contemporary Approaches to Fault Tolerance
Thanks to computer scientists like Barbara Liskov, researchers are making major progress with cost-efficient fault tolerance for Web-based systems.Toward Native Web Execution
Several software projects are narrowing the performance gap between browser-based applications and their desktop counterparts. In the process, they're creating new ways to improve the security of Web-based computing.Are We Losing Our Ability to Think Critically?
Computer technology has enhanced lives in countless ways, but some experts believe it might be affecting people's ability to think deeply.Liskov's Creative Joy
Barbara Liskov muses about the creative process of problem solving, finding the perfect design point, and pursuing a research path.Master of Connections
Jon Kleinberg is honored for his pioneering research on the Web and social networking.ACM Award Winners
Among this year's distinguished honorees are Barbara Liskov of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Jon Kleinberg of Cornell University.COLUMN: Viewpoints
The Dead Souls of the Google Book Search Settlement
Why the Google Book Search settlement agreement under consideration could result in an extensive restructuring of the book industry.Globalization of Knowledge-Intensive Professional Services
Does the trend toward standardization and modularization of professional services make outsourcing inevitable?The Cliché Defense
A guide to playing the ploys frequently employed by cliché-driven management.Why Computer Science Doesn't Matter
Aligning computer science with high school mathematics can help turn it into an essential subject for all students.CS Education in the U.S.: Heading in the Wrong Direction?
Considering the most effective methods for teaching students the fundamental principles of software engineering.SECTION: Practice
The Five-Minute Rule 20 Years Later
Revisiting Gray and Putzolu's famous rule in the age of Flash.Fighting Physics: A Tough Battle
The laws of physics and the Internet's routing infrastructure affect performance in a big way.SECTION: Contributed articles
Steps Toward Self-Aware Networks
Network software adapts to user needs and load variations and failures to provide reliable communications in largely unknown networks.The Metropolis Model: A New Logic For Development of Crowdsourced Systems
It takes a city of developers to build a big system that is never done.SECTION: Review articles
Probabilistic Databases: Diamonds in the Dirt
Treasures abound from hidden facts found in imprecise data sets.SECTION: Research highlights
Technical Perspective: The Ultimate Pilot Program
In one scene from The Matrix, two leaders of the human resistance are trapped on the roof of a skyscraper. The only means of escape is by helicopter, which neither can operate. The humans quickly call up a "pilot program" for …Apprenticeship Learning For Helicopter Control
Autonomous helicopter flight is widely regarded to be a highly challenging control problem. As helicopters are highly unstable and exhibit complicated dynamical behavior, it is particularly difficult to design controllers that …Technical Perspective: A Compiler's Story
In the early 1970s, pioneers like Floyd, Dijkstra, and Hoare argued that programs should be formally specified and proven correct. But for the past 40 years, most of the computer …Formal Verification of a Realistic Compiler
This paper reports on the development and formal verification of CompCert, a compiler from Clight (a large subset of the C programming language) to PowerPC assembly code, using the Coq proof assistant both for programming the …COLUMN: Last byte
Q&A: Liskov on Liskov
Barbara Liskov talks about her ground breaking work in data abstraction and distributed computing.SECTION: Virtual extension
