Author: Michael

People of ACM: Donald Knuth – A profile

Donald Ervin Knuth is Professor Emeritus at Stanford University. He received the 1974 ACM A.M. Turing Award for his major contributions to the analysis of algorithms and the design of programming languages, and in particular for his contributions to the “art of computer programming” through his series of well-known books. The collections of technique, algorithms, and relevant theory in these books have served as a focal point for developing curricula and as an organizing influence on computer science. A perfectionist, Knuth is also known for his contributions to typesetting, developing the TeX typesetting engine in the 1970s with Stanford students and colleagues in response to what he saw as inferior computerized typesetting of his published books at the time. He holds BS (andDSCN4512 honorary MS) degrees in Mathematics from Case Institute of Technology, and a PhD in Mathematics from the California Institute of Technology. He has been professor of Computer Science at Stanford since 1968. Throughout his career, Knuth has published extensively in a variety of technical areas, including computer languages, analysis of algorithms, and literate programming.

When I was visiting Stanford in 2012, I managed to take a photo of Knuth’s office door, but, alas, the great man was not inside 🙂

via Thursday, June 5, 2014: People of ACM: Donald Knuth — Association for Computing Machinery.

Navy puzzle challenge blends social media, cryptology

The Navy recently announced the winners of its cryptology puzzle game challenge: “Project Architeuthis.”

The puzzle, consisting of daily clues posted on Facebook, targets the cryptology technician community and was an attempt to raise awareness of the Information Dominance Corps. The challenge calls on Navy cryptology technicians to collect and analyze encrypted electronic communications, jam enemy radar signals, decipher information in foreign languages, maintain the state-of-the-art equipment, and defend and analyze networks.

Project Architeuthis (the Latin name for giant squid) began on April 28. The first 10 people to successfully complete the puzzle won the game. Developed in partnership with the Lowe Campbell Ewald (LCE) marketing agency, the challenge involved fictitious characters and social media profiles. In pursuing the game, characters interact with the Project Architeuthis Facebook page through posts to add layers to the story and provide clues when participants are stuck on a puzzle.

via Navy puzzle challenge blends social media, cryptology — GCN.

Automating Cybersecurity

If only computers themselves were smart enough to fight off malevolent hackers.

That is the premise of an ambitious two-year contest with a $2 million first prize, posed to the world’s computer programmers by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, better known by its acronym, Darpa. It is the blue-sky, big-think organization within the Defense Department that created a precursor of the Internet in the late 1960s and more recently held a contest that spurred development of self-driving cars.

Michael Walker, the Darpa cybersecurity program manager who is running the contest, imagines a future in which sensors on computer networks could detect intruders, identify the flaws that let them in, and automatically make the necessary repairs, all without a human computer expert lifting a finger.

via Automating Cybersecurity – NYTimes.com.

Tech is the place to be for the top entry-level jobs

College graduates with Web-development skills are sitting pretty in the current job market.

A report on the best and worst entry-level jobs released by WalletHub today lists “Web application developer” at the top. IT-related jobs in fact take four of the top five spots and six of the top 10.

via Tech is the place to be for the top entry-level jobs | It jobs – InfoWorld.

The Swift effect: Apple’s new programming language means way more iPhone developers and apps

Swift is trying to borrow the best elements of moderately newer popular languages like Python and Javascript. “These are just more modern, colloquial languages that more developers today understand. They are easier to learn, and things don’t break as easily in them,” says Chung.

Compared to the more complex Objective-C, the drawback of these simpler languages is performance — but Apple says Swift will mean a no-compromise solution. “Swift seems like it finally gives the developers in the iOS world the ability to do the things you have been able to do in the scripting world but without the penalties,” says Daniel Doubrovkine, the head of engineering at Artsy. “That’s if it delivers on its promises, and others have promised and failed. But the fact that Apple is behind it gives me a lot of hope its the real deal.”

via The Swift effect: Apple’s new programming language means way more iPhone developers and apps | The Verge.

Computer scientists study other computer scientists

A study and data set from Brown University on computer science faculty at the 50 top U.S. schools yielded several interesting findings. One finding was the Massachusetts Institute of Technology produces the most computer science professors through its Ph.D. programs, while coming in second place was the University of California, Berkeley. Another insight gained from the study came from the categorization of each professor’s field of research as either theory, systems, informatics, or scientific computing. The study found private universities offered the greatest concentration of theory study, while public schools had the least. One explanation for this finding is that public universities focus more on engineering, while private universities are more science-oriented. A third finding of the study was the top field of research in terms of computer science faculty hirings remains computer science theory. However, there has been a sharp trend in the last three years toward hiring professors specializing in systems and informatics, while the hiring of faculty who study computer science theory has diminished since 2011.

Computer scientists study other computer scientists | ITworld.

Employers want Java skills more than anything else

Java development was the most sought-after software-building skill by employers searching Dice.com in the first quarter of 2014, the company said on Wednesday.

Employers searched Dice thousands of times to look for software developers, engineers, architects and leads, Dice President Shravan Goli said in a statement. “The number one request by a large margin: Java/J2EE,” Goli said. “For a programming language that started to be commercialized about 20 years ago, its stranglehold on modern development is unshakable.”

Following Java/J2EE as the most in-demand software development skills were .Net, C++, C#, senior development skills, SQL, HTML, C, Web and Linux. “Experience is clearly of value, with many hiring mangers seeking senior developers,” Goli said. But new graduates should not fret, as hiring managers searching for “computer science” ranked number 33 on Dice’s site — a trend that should equate to demand for those with recent diplomas, he said. Dice’s survey covered from January 1 to April 15.

via Employers want Java skills more than anything else | Java programming – InfoWorld.

Coding Schools Tone Down Rosy Job Script

Programming is an art, as well as a science, as well as engineering. It requires time, to digest, to understand, to gain experience, as any apprenticeship.  Just as there are no short cuts to mathematics, there are not short cuts to programming.

The following article makes this and other points.

Learn to code. Get a job. Then what?Dozens of coding “boot camps” have popped up from New York and San Francisco to Omaha and Albuquerque in the past two years. Driven by a robust hiring market for people fluent in programming languages such as Python and Ruby on Rails, these programs have fueled hopes—and demand—among underemployed 20-somethings and others looking for a sure-thing career.

via Coding Schools Tone Down Rosy Job Script – WSJ.com.

New algorithm shakes up cryptography

Researchers at the CNRS Lorraine Laboratory of Research in Computer Science and its Applications and the University of Paris’ Computer Science Laboratory have uncovered a flaw in cryptography security. Their work discredits several cryptographic systems that until now were assumed to provide sufficient security safeguards. The team has solved one aspect of the discrete logarithm problem, considered to be one of the chief goals of algorithmic number theory, which serves as the foundation for the security of many of today’s cryptographic systems. The researchers have devised an algorithm that is able to solve increasingly large discrete logarithm problems, while its computing time increases at a far slower rate than with previous algorithms. As a result, computation is made considerably easier. However, the researchers note the work is still theoretical and needs to be refined before it is possible to provide a practical demonstration of the weakness of this variant of the discrete logarithm. Nonetheless, they say it is likely to impact cryptographic applications of smart cards, radio-frequency identification chips, and other security devices.

New algorithm shakes up cryptography — ScienceDaily.