bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Implicit array bounds checking on 64-bit architectures
Authors: Bentley Chris , Watterson Scott A. , Lowenthal David K. , Rountree Barry
Published: January 2007

Several programming languages guarantee that array subscripts are checked to ensure they are within the bounds of the array. While this guarantee improves the correctness and security of array-based code, it adds overhead to array references. This has been an obstacle to using higher-level languages, such as Java, for high-performance parallel computing, where the language specification requires that all array accesses must be checked to ensure they are within bounds. This is because, in practice, array-bounds checking in scientific applications may increase execution time by more than a factor of 2. Previous research has explored optimizations to statically eliminate bounds checks, but the dynamic nature of many scientific codes makes this difficult or impossible. Our approach is, instead, to create a compiler and operating system infrastructure that does not generate explicit bounds checks. It instead places arrays inside of
Index Confinement Regions
(ICRs), which are large, isolated, mostly unmapped virtual memory regions. Any array reference outside of its bounds will cause a protection violation; this provides
implicit
bounds checking. Our results show that when applying this infrastructure to high-performance computing programs written in Java, the overhead of bounds checking relative to a program with no bounds checks is reduced from an average of 63% to an average of 9%.
Who should test whom?
Authors: McDonald Sharon , Edwards Helen M.
Published: January 2007

Examining the use and abuse of personality tests in software engineering.
What subjects and skills are important for software developers?
Authors: Surakka Sami
Published: January 2007

A small survey of Finnish IT professionals, academics, and students has important implications for computer science degree programs.
Preparing to teach discrete math for the first time
Authors: Henderson Peter B. , DeCoste Rachelle , Huggins Kevin L.
Published: January 2007

Do you recall the first time you taught a discrete mathematics course, if ever? What were your goals for the course? Your thought processes preparing? How did you prepare to teach it the first time? As educators, there is always that first time teaching a new course. To capture this scenario I have enlisted the services of two professors at the United States Military Academy at West Point, Rachelle DeCoste and Kevin L. Huggins, who will each be teaching, for the first time, a section of discrete mathematics for cadets majoring in computer science. This is the first of two columns they will be contributing - before and after.
How much choice is too much?
Authors: Becker K.
Published: January 2007

Providing a learner-centered perspective is in keeping with modern constructivist approaches to learning, and this means that courses must be designed with learner attributes and choice in mind. Concerns over accreditation and the need for accountability at the post-secondary level seem to contradict freedom of choice and flexibility of term work, but this need not be the case. This paper outlines numerous strategies for offering choice and flexibility to students in a freshman programming course. Approaches include flexible deadlines, the ability to re-submit work that has already been assessed, writing tasks, contributing to course content, bonuses for embellishments and extra work, and choices about which problems to solve. All of the strategies have been employed in classes, and students' reactions as well as effects on student engagement and quality of work are described.
Speculative execution in a distributed file system
Authors: Nightingale Edmund B. , Chen Peter M. , Flinn Jason
Published: January 2007

Speculator provides Linux kernel support for speculative execution. It allows multiple processes to share speculative state by tracking causal dependencies propagated through interprocess communication. It guarantees correct execution by preventing speculative processes from externalizing output, for example, sending a network message or writing to the screen, until the speculations on which that output depends have proven to be correct. Speculator improves the performance of distributed file systems by masking I/O latency and increasing I/O throughput. Rather than block during a remote operation, a file system predicts the operation's result, then uses Speculator to checkpoint the state of the calling process and speculatively continue its execution based on the predicted result. If the prediction is correct, the checkpoint is discarded; if it is incorrect, the calling process is restored to the checkpoint, and the operation is retried. We have modified the client, server, and network protocol of two distributed file systems to use Speculator. For PostMark and Andrew-style benchmarks, speculative execution results in a factor of 2 performance improvement for NFS over local area networks and an order of magnitude improvement over wide area networks. For the same benchmarks, Speculator enables the Blue File System to provide the consistency of single-copy file semantics and the safety of synchronous I/O, yet still outperform current distributed file systems with weaker consistency and safety.
What’s on Your Hard Drive?
Authors: O'Hanlon Charlene
Published: January 2007

Over the past 12 months we’ve seen a wide variety of tools mentioned, and, come 2007, we would like to see a lot more of the same.
Will the Real Bots Stand Up?
Authors: Kelly-Bootle Stan
Published: January 2007

When asked which advances in computing technology have most dazzled me since I first coaxed the Cambridge EDSAC into fitful leaps of calculation in the 1950s, I must admit that Apple’s iPod sums up the many unforeseen miracles in one amazing, iconic gadget. Unlike those electrical nose-hair clippers and salt ’n’ pepper mills that gather dust after a few shakes, my iPod lives literally near my heart, on and off the road, in and out of bed like a versatile lover—except when it’s recharging and downloading in the piracy of my own home.
Report on the SIGIR 2006 workshop on XML element retrieval methodology
Authors: Trotman Andrew , Geva Shlomo
Published: January 2007

On the 10
th
of August 2006 the SIGIR 2006 Workshop on XML Element Retrieval Methodology was held as part of SIGIR in Seattle, Washington, USA. Six papers were presented in four sessions. This report outlines the events of the workshop and summarized the major outcomes.
On the complexity of nonrecursive XQuery and functional query languages on complex values
Authors: Koch Christoph
Published: January 2007

This article studies the complexity of evaluating functional query languages for complex values such as monad algebra and the recursion-free fragment of XQuery. We show that monad algebra, with equality restricted to atomic values, is complete for the class TA[2

O
(
n
)

,
O
(
n
)] of problems solvable in linear exponential time with a linear number of alternations if the query is assumed to be part of the input. The monotone fragment of monad algebra with atomic value equality but without negation is NEXPTIME-complete. For monad algebra with deep value equality, that is, equality of complex values, we establish TA[2

O
(
n
)

,
O
(
n
)] lower and exponential-space upper bounds. We also study a fragment of XQuery, Core XQuery, that seems to incorporate all the features of a query language on complex values that are traditionally deemed essential. A close connection between monad algebra on lists and Core XQuery (with “child” as the only axis) is exhibited. The two languages are shown expressively equivalent up to representation issues. We show that Core XQuery is just as hard as monad algebra with respect to query and combined complexity. As Core XQuery is NEXPTIME-hard, the best-known techniques for processing such problems require exponential amounts of working memory and doubly exponential time in the worst case. We present a property of queries---the lack of a certain form of composition---that virtually all real-world XQueries have and that allows for query evaluation in PSPACE and thus singly exponential time. Still, we are able to show for an important special case---Core XQuery with equality testing restricted to atomic values---that the composition-free language is just as expressive as the language with composition. Thus, under widely-held complexity-theoretic assumptions, the language with composition is an exponentially more succinct version of the composition-free language.
Peer data exchange
Authors: Fuxman Ariel , Kolaitis Phokion G. , Miller Renée J. , Tan Wang-Chiew
Published: January 2007

In this article, we introduce and study a framework, called
peer data exchange
, for sharing and exchanging data between peers. This framework is a special case of a full-fledged peer data management system and a generalization of data exchange between a source schema and a target schema. The motivation behind peer data exchange is to model authority relationships between peers, where a source peer may contribute data to a target peer, specified using source-to-target constraints, and a target peer may use target-to-source constraints to restrict the data it is willing to receive, but cannot modify the data of the source peer.A fundamental algorithmic problem in this framework is that of deciding the existence of a solution: given a source instance and a target instance for a fixed peer data exchange setting, can the target instance be augmented in such a way that the source instance and the augmented target instance satisfy all constraints of the setting? We investigate the computational complexity of the problem for peer data exchange settings in which the constraints are given by tuple generating dependencies. We show that this problem is always in NP, and that it can be NP-complete even for “acyclic” peer data exchange settings. We also show that the data complexity of the certain answers of target conjunctive queries is in coNP, and that it can be coNP-complete even for “acyclic” peer data exchange settings.After this, we explore the boundary between tractability and intractability for deciding the existence of a solution and for computing the certain answers of target conjunctive queries. To this effect, we identify broad syntactic conditions on the constraints between the peers under which the existence-of-solutions problem is solvable in polynomial time. We also identify syntactic conditions between peer data exchange settings and target conjunctive queries that yield polynomial-time algorithms for computing the certain answers. For both problems, these syntactic conditions turn out to be tight, in the sense that minimal relaxations of them lead to intractability. Finally, we introduce the concept of a universal basis of solutions in peer data exchange and explore its properties.
A divide-and-merge methodology for clustering
Authors: Cheng David , Kannan Ravi , Vempala Santosh , Wang Grant
Published: January 2007

We present a divide-and-merge methodology for clustering a set of objects that combines a top-down “divide” phase with a bottom-up “merge” phase. In contrast, previous algorithms use either top-down or bottom-up methods to construct a hierarchical clustering or produce a flat clustering using local search (e.g.,
k
-means). For the divide phase, which produces a tree whose leaves are the elements of the set, we suggest an efficient spectral algorithm. When the data is in the form of a sparse document-term matrix, we show how to modify the algorithm so that it maintains sparsity and runs in linear space. The merge phase quickly finds the optimal partition that respects the tree for many natural objective functions, for example,
k
-means, min-diameter, min-sum, correlation clustering, etc. We present a thorough experimental evaluation of the methodology. We describe the implementation of a meta-search engine that uses this methodology to cluster results from web searches. We also give comparative empirical results on several real datasets.
Region-based representations for face recognition
Authors: Balas Benjamin J. , Sinha Pawan
Published: January 2007

Face recognition is one of the most important applied aspects of visual perception. To create an automated face-recognition system, the fundamental challenge is that of finding useful features. In this paper, we suggest a new class of image features that may be a useful addition to the set of representational tools for face-recognition tasks. Our proposal is motivated by the observation that rather than relying exclusively on traditional edge-based image representations, it may be useful to also employ region-based strategies that can compare noncontiguous image regions. The spatial homogeneity within regions allows for enhanced tolerance to geometric distortions and greater freedom in the choice of sample points. We first show that under certain circumstances, comparisons between spatially disjoint image regions are, on average, more valuable for recognition than features that measure local contrast. Second, we learn “optimal” sets of region comparisons for recognizing faces across varying pose and illumination. We propose a representational primitive---the dissociated dipole---that permits an integration of edge-based and region-based representations. This primitive is then evaluated using the FERET database of face images and then compared to established local and global algorithms.
A justification for software rights
Authors: Siponen Mikko
Published: January 2007

It has been debated whether unauthorized copying of computer software is morally justified and whether developers or software companies can own software and require users to pay for its use. Four views in favour of unauthorized copying of software can be distinguished: 'free software' (Stallman), the landlord analogy (Nissenbaum), the 'non-exclusiveness argument' (Weckert, Ladd) and 'it is justified to copy a program that we would never buy' (Weckert). Considerations regarding these issues can be retraced to the three foundations of rights: inherited rights that are already in place, agreed rights, and no rights. From the viewpoint of agreed rights, rights are based on agreement and negotiation, and, referring to the universalizability theses by Rawls and Hare, I argue that it is justified that developers or software companies 'own' their software. I discuss the economic and social effects of free SW, understood as the abolition of financial acknowledgements, suggested by Stallman. I conclude that such free (noncommercial) software would give rise to socio-political changes toward systems that are something other than liberal-based (e.g., socialism). Again, I argue that we have a reason to object to Stallman's program in the light of the universalizability theses. Nevertheless, even if one were to perceive this as a convincing goal, it is questionable whether one should make unauthorized copies on these grounds in a society that does not function on such lines: one should first seek to change the norms and practices of one's society. This is further argued to be advisable, since it is not obvious that adhering to software copyright in the general sense is unfair or irrelevant. For these reasons, we should take violation of the laws governing software copying seriously. Finally, I criticize the non-exclusiveness argument, the landlord analogy and the view that 'is it justified to copy a program that we would never buy'.
Availability of f2c—a Fortran to C converter
Authors: Feldman S. I. , Gay D. M. , Maimone M. W. , Schryer N. L.
Published: January 2007

We have produced a program that automatically converts ANSI standard Fortran 77 [1] to C [8]. It has converted many Fortran programs without manual intervention; it is easily available --- free of charge (and of warranty) --- by electronic mail and
ftp.
A note on type composition and reusability
Authors: Kilian Michael F.
Published: January 2007

With the increasing use of object-oriented approaches to the development of libraries of reusable software components, it is useful to look at various type constructions that affect the reusability of objects. Though many people equate reusability with inheritance, another important form of reusability is the composition of one object from other objects. This paper looks at several common ways of organizing objects and how these organizations can reduce the reusability of the object definitions.
A knowledge acquisition tool for intelligent computer tutors
Authors: Murray Tom , Woolf Beverly Park
Published: January 2007

This research addresses the widening gap between research in intelligent tutoring systems and practical use of this technology by the educational community. In order to insure that intelligent tutoring systems (ITSs) are effective, teachers must be involved in their design and evaluation. We have followed a user participatory design process to build a set of ITS knowledge acquisition tools tailored for usability by teachers. The system facilitates rapid prototyping and testing of curriculum and multiple tutoring strategies. Teachers use the system to create, modify, and test the system's domain content and tutoring strategy knowledge bases. The design includes novel methodologies for strategy representation and overlay student modeling, and incorporates considerations from instructional design theory. Tools have been designed to provide the user with visual models of the concepts and structures of the underlying framework. In close collaboration with a veteran high school teacher, we have used the interface to design a tutor for statics (part of a high school physics course). In this paper we describe the system (called KAFITS), report on our experience involving educators in ITS development, discuss issues of ITS knowledge representation and acquisition, and compare the system with related research in generic tutoring systems and knowledge acquisition.
What information systems graduates are really doing
Authors: Beise Catherine M. , Padgett Thomas C. , Ganoe Fred J.
Published: January 2007

This paper reports results from a survey of IS graduates of twenty-two bachelor's level IS programs across the United States. The survey asked the graduates about their current positions: type of organization, type of work, major duties, salary, and certification. In addition, the survey asked about specific courses and their relevance to the respondents' current work. The results of the study should help human resource professionals in evaluating prospective IS employees and in career development for IS professionals.
Integrating logic and object-oriented programming
Authors: Wu Shaun-inn
Published: January 2007

Method representation in most object-oriented programing languages is too procedural and less declarative and expressive. Logic programming with declarative semantics can contribute a lot to the expressiveness of representing methods. Therefore, it is very desirable to combine logic programming and object-oriented programming to get the advantages of both. LogiC++ that integrates logic and object-oriented programming is designed primarily based on C++. However, methods in a LogiC++ program can be represented by Prolog Horn clauses. In this paper, we describe a compiler that takes a LogiC++ program as input and produces an equivalent C++ program as the output. The C++ program can then be compiled by a C++ compiler.
LEGALESE
Authors: Hair D. Charles
Published: January 2007

For my dissertation I have constructed a computer tool called LEGALESE that assists lawyers in the construction of legal arguments. The specific type of legal argument involved is the kind presented in legal briefs, where a lawyer presents an argument on behalf of a client. LEGALESE is a graphical, hypertext based tool that has been constructed on a Macintosh computer using HyperCard.
COMPUTER SYSTEMS SUPPORTING COOPERATIVE WORK
Authors: Henninger Scott
Published: January 2007

Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) is a relatively young research field that concerns itself with issues of using computers to support working groups. The third meeting of this biannual conference, CSCW '90, held last October in Los Angeles, brought together a mix of researchers, primarily from social sciences, computer science, business, and psychology. Over 500 researchers and developers attended the conference. There were 30 papers presented in non-overlapping sessions. The papers were mostly either descriptions of group ware systems or empirical studies of human working groups. In what follows, I will give my personal highlights of the conference. My overall assessment is that while the systems presented weren't that exciting, the studies were well done and illuminated problems with current CSCW applications, giving some direction for future systems.
UNDERSTANDING ERRORS IN HUMAN COMPUTER INTERACTION
Authors: Lang Kathy L. , Graesser Arthur C. , Hemphill Darold D.
Published: January 2007

The current study conducted an in-depth analysis of the errors that experienced computer users commit when learning new software. Both a descriptive and explanatory analysis of the errors was performed in order to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the errors committed in the domain of human-computer interaction. The descriptive analysis enabled the identification of the types of errors committed, whereas the explanatory analysis investigated why the errors were committed.
USER TESTING A PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE
Authors: Donkers Adriane , Arnaldo Marta , Dillon Richard , Tombaugh Jo
Published: January 2007

Members of the Computer User Research and Evaluation Laboratory at Carleton University conducted usability tests during development of a 4th generation database programming language. Although the basic usability testing approach can be applied to the development of a programming language, there are several methodological issues that require careful consideration when user testing a language. The issues are outlined below.
WHAT MAKES A GOOD DESIGN QUESTION?
Authors: Bellotti Victoria , MacLean Allan , Moran Thomas
Published: January 2007

Designers ask questions throughout the design process. The resulting arguments about how best to answer them are critical in justifying solutions, but are rarely recorded. We are developing a representation of design rationale called QOC (Questions, Options and Criteria) which captures just such information (MacLean et al, 1991). It encourages evaluation of a broader range, or design space, of solutions than designers might otherwise consider.
A VALIDATION OF ERGONOMIC CRITERIA FOR THE EVALUATION OF USER INTERFACES
Authors: Scapin Dominique L. , Bastien Christian
Published: January 2007

The amount of human factors engineering data about user interface design and evaluation has become very large over the last years. A large part of that knowledge has resulted in principles, recommendations and guidelines published under various formats (standards, guides, etc.). Unfortunately, efficient usage of that knowledge seems difficult, particularly for non specialists.
USE OF THE EYEGAZE SYSTEM IN A USABILITY LABORATORY
Authors: Benel Denise C. R. , Ottens Donald , Horst Richard
Published: January 2007

There are many situations in assessing product or system usability where it is desirable to know where a person is looking. In addition, measures such as scan patterns, pupil size, and direction of gaze are useful for inferring usability, helping designers select the best of several displays.
PROTOCOL ANALYSIS OF THE USE OF A CAD SYSTEM IN A HOME DESIGN TASK
Authors: Bruderlin Armin , Dickinson John , Dill John , Bartram Lyn
Published: January 2007

The question of how humans design has been approached from a number of perspectives. Analyses have been made of the processes, strategies and problem solving techniques utilized when generating new designs [Finger 89]. One descriptive method to understanding the design process is the use of protocol analysis. This method has been successfully applied to elucidate the stages and decisions inherent in design (see, for instance, [Ullman 86, Adelson 89, Schon 88]).
EXPERIMENTAL EVALUATION OF ICON QUALITY
Authors: Sorenson Paul F. , Webb Jayson M.
Published: January 2007

There are currently no standard methods to assess and ensure the usability of graphical user interfaces (GUIs). A series of experiments were designed to measure the factors that affect the usability of a common element of GUIs, icons. A procedure for designing effective iconic images based on our results with subjects from widely varying educational and computer backgrounds is described.
CORAL: a concurrent object-oriented system for constructing and executing sequential, parallel and distributed applications
Authors: Chang Daniel T.
Published: January 2007

This article briefly describes the objectives, approach, major features, and current status of CORAL (Concurrent Object-oRiented Application Language). CORAL is a programming system that permits the construction and execution of sequential, parallel and distributed applications in a transparent manner. It is based on a concurrent object-oriented model of computation in which concurrent objects may execute sequentially in a single processor, in parallel over shared-memory multiprocessors, or distributively over multicomputer networks. In addition, methods within an object may execute in parallel over shared-memory multiprocessors.
Towards a type theory for active objects
Authors: Nierstrasz Oscar , Papathomas Michael
Published: January 2007

A key property of object-oriented languages is that they promote software reuse through inter-changeability or
plug compatibility
of software components that conform to the same message-passing interface. A characterization of such an interface is a
type,
and can be viewed as a constraint on the behaviour of an object. An object that conforms to the type meets the constraint. A subtype, in this view, is simply a stronger constraint: all objects that conform to a subtype also conform to the supertype. The nature of these constraints may vary, however, as may the rules for determining when one type is a subtype of another. The choice of characterization will depend on the computational model of a particular language and the way in which objects interact. We seek to develop a notion of type that will serve to characterize concurrent, active objects whose behaviour may not conform to a strict client/server model of interaction and communication.
Another proposal for a concurrency control level in concurrent object-oriented languages
Authors: Roux Olivier
Published: January 2007

One of the most important features in Object-Oriented Programming is the concept of class. The class encompasses the behavior of any object which belongs to it. For this reason, the class is said to be at a meta-level compared to that of the objects. The creation of an object as well as the copy are some examples of what a class is able to perform.
APL for the USSR
Authors: Kononov Alexey I.
Published: January 2007

This article is the printed version of the report made at the annual Scientific and Practical Conference on APL, organized by the Union of Soviet APL Users for Soviet and foreign participants, which was held in April, 1991 in Leningrad, USSR. Some different aspects of APL representation in the Obninsk Post-graduate Extension School and the relation to it of a variety of specialists who studied there, are analyzed. The difficulties in APL utilization by Soviet users, their requirements, and a special view on the future of APL are shown.
Analogy or identity
Authors: Nyce James M.
Published: January 2007

Of importance for cybernetics was its setting in the flesh...For me it proved that brains do not secrete thought as the liver secretes bile, but that they compute thoughts the way computing machines calculate numbers.
Warren McCulloch 1974:10
Principle-Based Parsing: Computation and Psycholinguistics Edited by Robert C. Berwick, Steven P. Abney, and Carol Tenny (Kluwer Academic Publishers Boston/Dordrecht/London, 1991)
Authors: Covington Michael A.
Published: January 2007

Principle-based parsing is parsing in which the rules of grammar are not stated explicitly, but rather inferred from more general principles. In practice this means Government and Binding (GB) theory (Chomsky 1982). Readers unfamiliar with GB theory will find it largely demystified by Berwick's introductory article; Sells (1985) gives a good concise overview.
Book review: Metaphor & Knowledge Representation By Eileen Cornell Way (Kluwer, 1991) and Analogy for Automated Reasoning By Stephen Owen (Academic Press, 1990)
Authors: Keane Mark T.
Published: January 2007

In investigations of natural language the abiding assumption has been that language is largely literal and that phenomena like metaphor and analogy are epiphenomenal aberrations, decorative gimcracks to amuse us. In recent years, a well-spring of research in philosophy and linguistics has argued that this view is not wholly true (see e.g., Lakoff & Johnson, 1980); arguing that language is fundamentally metaphorical or analogical. Eileen Way stands very much in this tradition and provides us with a very comprehensive and interesting review of its philosophical roots. She is also one of the first to try to carry such views on metaphor through to a computational implementation. As the title of the book suggests, her focus is mainly on metaphor rather than analogy but she does refer to some of the recent research on analogy (mainly with a view to arguing that it is something that metaphor is not).
On Learning about Learning
Authors: Powers David M. W.
Published: January 2007

Learning is being increasingly recognized as a central characteristic of intelligence, and hence of artificial intelligence. Similarly adaptivity, dynamism and integration are becoming catch-cries in the computer industry generally, and learning is in various senses involved here too, whether or not the label AI is attached.
Book review: Aaron's Code: Meta-Art, Artificial Intelligence, and the Work of Harold Cohen By Pamela McCorduck (Freeman New York, 1990)
Authors: Waxman M. J.
Published: January 2007

Aaron is an automation that generates fine art. It consists of an expert system that controls a drawing and painting engine. The rules and the knowledge base that make up the expert system have been provided by the Artist, David Cohen, over a period of some 18 years. The development of Aaron has gone through many stages, from an initial system that could only do a full frontal presentation of simple but evocative shapes in the 1973--78 period to figures executed using a fully three dimensional knowledge base by 1989. It shows the problems that can arise in developing a program that can develop something as complex as novel works of art.
Book review: Computational Models of Scientific Discovery and Theory Formation Edited by Jeff Shrager & Pat Langley (Morgan Kaufmann San Mateo, CA, 1990)
Authors: Murphy Dennis D.
Published: January 2007

This collection of fifteen talks from a 1989 symposium at Stanford comes as a welcome addition to the small literature dealing with scientific and mathematical thinking. Those interested in this subject will want to obtain this book, along with its predecessor (Langley, et al, 1987), an exposition of the topic rather than an edited collection of research reports.
The Geneva convention on the treatment of object aliasing
Authors: Hogg John , Lea Doug , Wills Alan , deChampeaux Dennis , Holt Richard
Published: January 2007

Aliasing has been a problem in both formal verification and practical programming for a number of years. To the formalist, it can be annoyingly difficult to prove the simple Hoare formula {x = true} y := false {x = true}. If x and y refer to the same boolean variable, i.e., x and y are
aliased
, then the formula will not be valid, and proving that aliasing cannot occur is not always straightforward. To the practicing programmer, aliases can result in mysterious bugs as variables change their values seemingly on their own. A classic example is the matrix multiply routine mult(left, right, result) which puts the product of its first two parameters into the third. This works perfectly well until the day some unsuspecting programmer writes the very reasonable statement mult(a, b, a). If the implementor of the routine did not consider the possibility that an argument may be aliased with the result, disaster is inevitable.
1992—A critical year in HCI education
Authors: Perlman Gary
Published: January 2007

Years from now, I think 1992 will be viewed as a critical year in HCI education, In this column, I would like to explain what has happened leading up to this year and how it will affect the future.
Socially responsible computing II
Authors: Shneiderman Ben
Published: January 2007

Now that we are past the initial emotional responses to the LA riots, maybe we can use these tragic events as a stimulus for innovative and constructive efforts. Computing professionals have been active in social causes on an individual basis and in some large projects, but with the growing maturity of our industry we can promote larger initiatives and accept greater responsibility.
User object models
Authors: Kent William
Published: January 2007

Object users and developers have different needs, contributing to the plethora of object models. This paper focuses on user object models, differentiating them from developer models, and outlines a spectrum of characteristics which can provide a basis for comparing and reconciling different user models.
Extending compound assignments for C++
Authors: Dinesh T. B.
Published: January 2007

Compound assignments have been created with efficiency, for handling a subset of things that simple assignments can do. This gain in efficiency is due to the interpretation of the compound assignment as a message that modifies self (“this”). However, C++ does not extend the same interpretation of compound assignments to user defined types. In this paper, we illustrate how the notion of compound assignments is natural in C++, how it can be implemented and indicate that the resulting gain in efficiency is akin to the gain in efficiency obtained by optimizing C compilers that translate complex expressions to simple ones that use compound assignments.
Solving two-state logic problems with Boolean arrays
Authors: Fordyce Kenneth , Alfonseca Manuel , Brown James , Sullivan Gerald
Published: January 2007

Many great advances in science and mathematics were preceded by notational improvements. While a given algorithm can be implemented in any general purpose programming language, discovery of algorithms is heavily influenced by the notation used to investigate them. It is often conjectured that APL notation leads to unique solutions. In logic problems the values for variables are often limited to two states or options: yes/no, true/false, on/off, guilt/innocence, etc. This paper provides one example of how APL provides a unique solution to such problems.
Real-time performance of the HARRIS RTX 2000 stack architecture versus the Sun 4 SPARC and the Sun 3 M68020 architectures with a proposed real-time performance benchmark
Authors: Keown William F. , Koopman Philip , Collins Aaron
Published: January 2007

This study compares a stack machine, the Harris RTX 2000, a RISC machine, the Sun 4/SPARC, and a CISC machine, the Sun3/M68020 for real-time applications. An attempt is made to compare the generic features of each machine which are characteristic of their architectural classes as opposed to being characteristic of the individual machine only. Performance is compared based on execution of the Stanford Integer Benchmark series and on interrupt response characteristics. A simple Real-Time Performance BenchMark which integrates raw compute power and interrupt response is proposed, then used to estimate the real-time performance of the machines. It is shown that the RTX 2000 outperforms the others for applications which have a very large number of interrupts per second, confirming that stack architectures should perform well in real-time applications such as high-speed computer communication systems. For less interrupt intensive applications, the Sun 4 SPARC performs better.
Book review: The Art of the MetaObject Protocol By Gregor Kiczales, Jim des Rivieres, Daniel G. and Bobrow(MIT Press, 1991)
Authors: Stern Joshua
Published: January 2007

Object oriented programming (OOP) is a primary feature of many popular AI tools.
The Art of the MetaObject Protocol
is by the principal creators of the Common Lisp Object System (CLOS), probably the best conceived and most flexible of today's object oriented languages. This book is an annotated walk-through of the implementation of a subset of CLOS the authors call Closette. The authors are all from Xerox PARC.
The ObjectWorld, a classless, object-based, visual programming language
Authors: Penz Franz , Wollinger Thomas
Published: January 2007

The ObjectWorld is an experimental programming system combining the concepts of object-oriented programming and visual programming to enable software reuse. New objects are assembled from prefabricated ones. The concepts of object-oriented programming are characterized and the ObjectWorld is classified according to these concepts. Two examples demonstrate programming in the ObjectWorld.
Design automation research at The University of Wisconsin—Madison
Authors: Beetem J. , Dietmeyer D. , Hu Y. , Jain R. , Kime C. , Ramanathan P. , Saluja K.
Published: January 2007

The University of Wisconsin - Madison has a large design automation research program with activities in many DA and CAD areas. The primary thrusts are in Testing, High- and Low-Level Synthesis, AI-based CAD, Rapid Implementation of CAD tools, Design Methodologies, and CAD System Issues. This document describes recent and current DA projects. The reader is encouraged to contact the investigators for more information about specific projects.
Book review: Competitively Inhibited Neural Networks for Adaptive Parameter Estimation by Michael Lemmon (Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1991)
Authors: Barone Joseph M.
Published: January 2007

Rigorous, formal treatments of neural network fundamentals (i.e., treatments whose arguments consist primarily of theorems and proofs) have by now focused on a number of aspects. The convergence properties (stability) and capacity of neural nets of various types have been analyzed in this manner to one degree or another (e.g., [1-3]), and their expressive power has also been the subject of a number of formal analyses (e.g.,[4]). Though not necessarily perfectly rigorous in the sense just mentioned, formal treatments of network dynamics also exist. For reasons which will become clear below, the remarkable paper of Amari and Maginu [5] is especially worthy of note. In this paper, the authors demonstrate that the size of the "basin" of an equilibrium (learned, if you will) state in an autocorrelation associative memory stands in a complex (but predictable) relationship with the distance between the state and the input vector. This paper, along with others by Amari and his coworkers, illustrates clearly that an indepth analysis of somewhat mundane properties of neural networks may yield surprising results of considerable significance.
Book review: Uncertain Reasoning Edited by Glenn Shafer and Judea Pearl (Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, Inc., San Mateo, California)
Authors: Kreinovich Vladik
Published: January 2007

This book belongs to the wonderful Morgan Kaufmann Reading series. It is a collection of classical papers on uncertain reasoning, with explanatory introduction in the beginning of every section.
The Turing Test and the economist
Authors: Shapiro Stuart C.
Published: January 2007

I have always thought the Turing Test a perfectly good test for AI, and I want to say briefly why.
Allen Newell dies, age 65
Authors: Lehman Jill Fain , Rosenbloom Paul
Published: January 2007

Dr. Oscar Garcia joined the IRIS staff on September 1, 1992, as Program Director for the Interactive Systems Program, while he is on leave from the George Washington University. The previous program director, Dr. Johnson Hestenes, returns to Drexel University to resume his professiorial duties.
General natural language for operating systems
Authors: Li Xie , Xing Du
Published: January 2007

This paper proposes a general natural language interface for operating systems. It adopts an Application-Independent Hierarchic approach (AIH) to developing general natural language interfaces. AIH separates the application-specific part of natural language processing from the nonspecific one, and represents the former declaratively. In addition to the traditional phases of natural language process, a new phase called domain compiling is introduced. Using AIH, an experimental interface THJ has been developed which is general natural language interface for the Unix, VMS, and MS-DOS operating systems.
Book Review:
Authors: Chlamtac Imrich
Published: January 2007

"The Art of Computer Systems Performance Analysis", John Wiley & Sons, New York, is a unique and highly successful attempt at producing a standard reference for the performance analyst. In this book Raj Jain has applied his comprehensive knowledge of this subject based on a unique combination of industrial and academic experience. Raj Jain is a well known authority in both system performance and network architectures. This breadth of understanding which covers the theory of modeling and analysis, combined with a first hand knowledge of their use, has resulted in a textbook which is lucid, pragmatic and witty. In short, a must for any practicing professional that needs to compare alternative systems (computers, processors, devices, networks, databases, algorithms or applications), understand the performance of existing systems, or manage such systems.
Book review: Performance Engineering of Software Systems by Connie U. Smith (Addison Wesley 1990)
Authors: Pooley Rob
Published: January 2007

To those working in the field of performance, Connie Smith should need no introduction. She is the author of many papers which have sought to make accessible the techniques of performance analysis and prediction to practising software designers. She is probably the first to have used the term "performance engineering" to describe the application of such techniques to software systems. The publication of a book which encapsulates her ideas is therefore of considerable interest.
Mathematical model of the probe volume in an optical particle sizing device
Authors: Samavi Shadrokh , Gassaway James D.
Published: January 2007

This paper presents a new approach in numerical simulation and mathematical modeling of the sample volume in an optical particle-sizing instrument (MSU-PSI) [1]. This in done for when the device is operating in Small Angle Near Forward Scattering (SANFS) mode. The instrument is designed to perform on-line measurement of the particle-size distributions by means of non-intrusive methods. This is achieved by measuring the size of individual particles in a sample volume. The sample volume in the SANFS mode is formed by focusing a single laser beam. The size of a particle is determined by the amount of light that it scatters, when inside the sample volume. This scattered light is captured and processed electronically and eventually is converted to a histogram which, when interpreted, will be a representation of the particle-size distribution.
ABSTRACTS OF INTEREST
Authors: Shneiderman Ben
Published: January 2007

The following abstracts were selected from a computer search using the BRS Information Technologies retrieval services of the Dissertation Abstracts International (DAI) database produced by University Microfilms International.Unless otherwise specified, paper or microform copies of dissertations may be ordered, using the UMI order number, from University Microfilms International, Disseration Copies, Post Office Box 1794, Ann Arbor, MI 488106; telephone for U.S. (except Michigan, Hawaii, or Alaska): 800/521-3042, for Canada: 800/268--6090. Price lists, ordering, and shipping information are in the introduction to the published DAI. An alternative source for copies is sometimes provided at the end of the abstract.The dissertation titles and abstracts contained here are published with permission of University Microfilms International, publishers of Dissertation Abstracts International (copyright 1985) by University Microfilms International), and may not be reproduced without their prior permission.
Scenario? Guilty!
Authors: Kyng Morten
Published: January 2007

Robert Campbell categorizes the word "scenario" as a buzzword, identifies four major uses within HCI and suggests that we adopt new terms differentiating these four uses of the word. My first reaction to reading the article was definitely positive, but rereading it gave me enough second thoughts to warrant a response. I should probably confess that I searched my latest paper for the word "scenario" and found eight occurrences, none of which fell in the categories described by Campbell.
Remembering Allen Newell
Authors: Card Stuart , Moran Thomas , Robertson George
Published: January 2007

Allen Newell, one of the founders of the fields of artificial intelligence, cognitive science, and human-computer interaction, died July 19 in Pittsburgh. He was 65.
Directions and implications of advanced computing
Authors: Schuler Doug
Published: January 2007

What relevance do computing and computer professionals have for the "real world?" This important question is infrequently addressed by computer professionals and the institutions --- academic, corporate, and governmental --- in which they're involved. The biannual "Directions and Implications of Advanced Computing" symposia, sponsored by Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility were established to address the wide ranging social implications of computing that often are given inadequate consideration. This report discusses some of the themes of the latest "Directions and Implications of Advanced Computing" (DIAC-92) Symposium that was held in Berkeley, California in May, 1992.
The interactive matrix chart
Authors: Marsh Shaun
Published: January 2007

This paper presents a method for mapping a table of quantitative data into a unique graphical presentation, called an interactive matrix chart. Each chart consists of a grid containing graphical marks in each of the cells, and these marks may vary in color, size, shape and other characteristics.The chart may be manipulated through both a simplification and a query mechanism. Simplifying the interactive matrix chart involves rearranging rows and columns of the chart. Querying the interactive matrix chart involves redesigning the individual marks meant to represent the underlying data. By simplifying and querying the interactive matrix chart, different patterns of marks are rendered, and, therefore, different relationships between the data are revealed.
Intemational Perspectives
Authors: Karat Clare-Marie , Karat John
Published: January 2007

How differently do human-computer interaction specialists from divergent cultures see issues in the field? In the previous two International Perspectives columns, we have provided reports on the status of HCI activities in various countries, and will continue to request and publish these sorts of reports as a means of communicating different views of cross-cultural issues. But in this issue we would like to experiment with another way of initiating international dialogue. We offer a short article by Robert Campbell on the role of scenarios in HCI practice and research, and ask for comments from anyone in the community. It is our hope that sharing responses from people with different perspectives on a central theme will create an enlightening and engaging experience for all of us.
A Human Factors Guide to Computer Speech
Authors: Cowley Christopher , Jones Dylan
Published: January 2007

Recently, computer speech technology has advanced to the point where practical, commercially available speech output devices can be utilized for a variety of applications which take advantage of the unique attributes of language as a communication mode. Such devices, although not approaching the sophistication and flexibility of their human counterparts, allow production and manipulation of intelligible synthesized speech and the storage and display of high-quality digitized utterances. As the technology becomes more widely known and the costs decrease, much wider usage can be anticipated.