Showing papers in "ACM Queue in 2004"

Game Development: Harder Than You Think: Ten or twenty years ago it was all fun and games. Now it’s blood, sweat, and code.

Abstract: The hardest part of making a game has always been the engineering. In times past, game engineering was mainly about low-level optimization—writing code that would run quickly on the target computer, leveraging clever little tricks whenever possible. But in the past ten years, games have ballooned in complexity. Now the primary technical challenge is simply getting the code to work to produce an end result that bears some semblance to the desired functionality. To the extent that we optimize, we are usually concerned with high-level algorithmic choices. There’s such a wide variety of algorithms to know about, so much experience required to implement them in a useful way, and so much work overall that just needs to be done, that we have a perpetual shortage of qualified people in the industry.

The Magic of RFID: Just how do those little things work anyway?

Abstract: Many modern technologies give the impression they work by magic, particularly when they operate automatically and their mechanisms are invisible. A technology called RFID (radio frequency identification), which is relatively new to the mass market, has exactly this characteristic and for many people seems a lot like magic. RFID is an electronic tagging technology that allows an object, place, or person to be automatically identified at a distance without a direct line-of-sight, using an electromagnetic challenge/response exchange. Typical applications include labeling products for rapid checkout at a point-of-sale terminal, inventory tracking, animal tagging, timing marathon runners, secure automobile keys, and access control for secure facilities.

The Reincarnation of Virtual Machines: Virtualization makes a comeback.

Abstract: The term virtual machine initially described a 1960s operating system concept: a software abstraction with the looks of a computer system’s hardware (real machine). Forty years later, the term encompasses a large range of abstractions?for example, Java virtual machines that don’t match an existing real machine. Despite the variations, in all definitions the virtual machine is a target for a programmer or compilation system. In other words, software is written to run on the virtual machine.

AI in Computer Games: Smarter games are making for a better user experience. What does the future hold?

Abstract: If you’ve been following the game development scene, you’ve probably heard many remarks such as: "The main role of graphics in computer games will soon be over; artificial intelligence is the next big thing!" Although you should hardly buy into such statements, there is some truth in them. The quality of AI (artificial intelligence) is a high-ranking feature for game fans in making their purchase decisions and an area with incredible potential to increase players’ immersion and fun.

Integrating RFID: Data management and inventory control are about to get a whole lot more interesting.

Abstract: RFID (radio frequency identification) has received a great deal of attention in the commercial world over the past couple of years. The excitement stems from a confluence of events. First, through the efforts of the former Auto-ID Center and its sponsor companies, the prospects of low-cost RFID tags and a networked supply chain have come within reach of a number of companies. Second, several commercial companies and government bodies, such as Wal-Mart and Target in the United States, Tesco in Europe, and the U.S. Department of Defense, have announced RFID initiatives in response to technology improvements.

The Demise of the Waterfall Model Is Imminent, and Other Urban Myths: Rumors of the demise of the Waterfall Life-cycle Model are greatly exaggerated.

Abstract: We discovered this and other disappointing indicators about current software engineering practices in a recent survey of almost 200 software professionals. These discoveries raise questions about perception versus reality with respect to the nature of software engineers, software engineering practice, and the industry.

Enterprise Search: Tough Stuff: Why is it that searching an intranet is so much harder than searching the Web?

Abstract: The last decade has witnessed the growth of information retrieval from a boutique discipline in information and library science to an everyday experience for billions of people around the world. This revolution has been driven in large measure by the Internet, with vendors focused on search and navigation of Web resources and Web content management. Simultaneously, enterprises have invested in networking all of their information together to the point where it is increasingly possible for employees to have a single window into the enterprise. Although these employees seek Web-like experiences in the enterprise, the Internet and enterprise domains differ fundamentally in the nature of the content, user behavior, and economic motivations.

Building Nutch: Open Source Search: A case study in writing an open source search engine

Abstract: Search engines are as critical to Internet use as any other part of the network infrastructure, but they differ from other components in two important ways. First, their internal workings are secret, unlike, say, the workings of the DNS (domain name system). Second, they hold political and cultural power, as users increasingly rely on them to navigate online content.

BPM: The Promise and the Challenge: It’s all about closing the loop from conception to execution and back.

Abstract: Over the last decade, businesses and governments have been giving increasing attention to business processes - to their description, automation, and management. This interest grows out of the need to streamline business operations, consolidate organizations, and save costs, reflecting the fact that the process is the basic unit of business value within an organization.

Stream Processors: Progammability and Efficiency: Will this new kid on the block muscle out ASIC and DSP?

Abstract: Many signal processing applications require both efficiency and programmability. Baseband signal processing in 3G cellular base stations, for example, requires hundreds of GOPS (giga, or billions, of operations per second) with a power budget of a few watts, an efficiency of about 100 GOPS/W (GOPS per watt), or 10 pJ/op (picoJoules per operation). At the same time programmability is needed to follow evolving standards, to support multiple air interfaces, and to dynamically provision processing resources over different air interfaces. Digital television, surveillance video processing, automated optical inspection, and mobile cameras, camcorders, and 3G cellular handsets have similar needs.

TCP Offload to the Rescue: Getting a toehold on TCP offload engines—and why we need them

Abstract: In recent years, TCP/IP offload engines, known as TOEs, have attracted a good deal of industry attention and a sizable share of venture capital dollars. A TOE is a specialized network device that implements a significant portion of the TCP/IP protocol in hardware, thereby offloading TCP/IP processing from software running on a general-purpose CPU. This article examines the reasons behind the interest in TOEs and looks at challenges involved in their implementation and deployment.

Death by UML Fever: Self-diagnosis and early treatment are crucial in the fight against UML Fever.

Abstract: A potentially deadly illness, clinically referred to as UML (Unified Modeling Language) fever, is plaguing many software-engineering efforts today. This fever has many different strains that vary in levels of lethality and contagion. A number of these strains are symptomatically related, however. Rigorous laboratory analysis has revealed that each is unique in origin and makeup. A particularly insidious characteristic of UML fever, common to most of its assorted strains, is the difficulty individuals and organizations have in self-diagnosing the affliction. A consequence is that many cases of the fever go untreated and often evolve into more complex and lethal strains.

Automating Software Failure Reporting: We can only fix those bugs we know about.

Abstract: There are many ways to measure quality before and after software is released For commercial and internal-use-only products, the most important measurement is the user’s perception of product quality Unfortunately, perception is difficult to measure, so companies attempt to quantify it through customer satisfaction surveys and failure/behavioral data collected from its customer base This article focuses on the problems of capturing failure data from customer sites To explore the pertinent issues I rely on experience gained from collecting failure data from Windows XP systems, but the problems you are likely to face when developing internal (noncommercial) software should not be dissimilar

Self-Healing in Modern Operating Systems: A few early steps show there’s a long (and bumpy) road ahead.

Abstract: Driving the stretch of Route 101 that connects San Francisco to Menlo Park each day, billboard faces smilingly reassure me that all is well in computerdom in 2004. Networks and servers, they tell me, can self-defend, self-diagnose, self-heal, and even have enough computing power left over from all this introspection to perform their owner-assigned tasks.

Extensible Programming for the 21st Century: Is an open, more flexible programming environment just around the corner?

Abstract: In his keynote address at OOPSLA ’98, Sun Microsystems Fellow Guy L. Steele Jr. said, “From now on, a main goal in designing a language should be to plan for growth.” Functions, user-defined types, operator overloading, and generics (such as C++ templates) are no longer enough: tomorrow’s languages must allow programmers to add entirely new kinds of information to programs, and control how it is processed. This article argues that next-generation programming systems can accomplish this by combining three specific technologies.

Network Forensics: Good detective work means paying attention before, during, and after the attack.

Abstract: The dictionary defines forensics as “the use of science and technology to investigate and establish facts in criminal or civil courts of law.” I am more interested, however, in the usage common in the computer world: using evidence remaining after an attack on a computer to determine how the attack was carried out and what the attacker did. The standard approach to forensics is to see what can be retrieved after an attack has been made, but this leaves a lot to be desired. The first and most obvious problem is that successful attackers often go to great lengths to ensure that they cover their trails. The second is that unsuccessful attacks often go unnoticed, and even when they are noticed, little information is available to assist with diagnosis.

VoIP Security: Not an Afterthought: DDOS takes on a whole new meaning.

Abstract: Voice over IP (VoIP) promises to up-end a century-old model of voice telephony by breaking the traditional monolithic service model of the public switched telephone network (PSTN) and changing the point of control and provision from the central office switch to the end user’s device. Placing intelligence at the edge, in the Internet tradition, has a number of consequences: a wider community of developers - in particular the large community of Web service developers - can work on voice applications; open interfaces and decomposable functionality facilitate multi-vendor and homegrown solutions; and open source and nonproprietary software development can facilitate innovation and experimentation.

Fuzzy Boundaries: Objects, Components, and Web Services: It’s easy to transform objects into components and Web services, but how do we know which is right for the job?

Abstract: If you are an object-oriented programmer, you will understand the code snippet, even if you are not familiar with the language (C#, not that it matters). You will not be surprised to learn that this program will print out the following line to the console: woof.

Leveraging Application Frameworks: Why frameworks are important and how to apply them effectively

Abstract: In today’s competitive, fast-paced computing industry, successful software must increasingly be: (1) extensible to support successions of quick updates and additions to address new requirements and take advantage of emerging markets; (2) flexible to support a growing range of multimedia data types, traffic flows, and end-to-end QoS (quality of service) requirements; (3) portable to reduce the effort required to support applications on heterogeneous operating-system platforms and compilers; (4) reliable to ensure that applications are robust and tolerant to faults; (5) scalable to enable applications to handle larger numbers of clients simultaneously; and (6) affordable to ensure that the total ownership costs of software acquisition and evolution are not prohibitively high.

Oops! Coping with Human Error in IT Systems: Errors Happen. How to Deal.

Abstract: Human operator error is one of the most insidious sources of failure and data loss in today’s IT environments. In early 2001, Microsoft suffered a nearly 24-hour outage in its Web properties as a result of a human error made while configuring a name resolution system. Later that year, an hour of trading on the Nasdaq stock exchange was disrupted because of a technicians mistake while testing a development system. More recently, human error has been blamed for outages in instant messaging networks, for security and privacy breaches, and for banking system failures.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Biomorphic Software: The natural world may be the inspiration we need for solving our computer problems.

Abstract: The natural world may be the inspiration we need for solving our computer problems. While it is certainly true that "the map is not the territory," most visitors to a foreign country do prefer to take with them at least a guidebook to help locate themselves as they begin their explorations. That is the intent of this article. Although there will not be enough time to visit all the major tourist sites, with a little effort and using the information in the article as signposts, the intrepid explorer can easily find numerous other, interesting paths to explore.

VoIP: What is it Good for?: If you think VoIP is just an IP version of telecom-as-usual, think again. A host of applications are changing the phone call as we know it.

Abstract: VoIP (voice over IP) technology is a rapidly expanding field. More and more VoIP components are being developed, while existing VoIP technology is being deployed at a rapid and still increasing pace. This growth is fueled by two goals: decreasing costs and increasing revenues.

Electronic Voting Systems: the Good, the Bad, and the Stupid: Is it true that politics and technology don’t mix?

Abstract: As a result of the Florida 2000 election fiasco, some people concluded that paper ballots simply couldn’t be counted. Instead, paperless computerized voting systems were touted as the solution to “the Florida problem.” Replacing hanging chads with 21st century technology, proponents claimed, would result in accurate election counts and machines that were virtually impossible to rig. Furthermore, with nothing to hand-count and no drawn-out recounts to worry about, computerized voting systems were expected to enable the reporting of results shortly after the polls had closed.

You Don’t Know Jack About VoIP: The Communications they are a-changin’.

Abstract: Telecommunications worldwide has experienced a significant revolution over recent years. The long-held promise of network convergence is occurring at an increasing pace. This convergence of data, voice, and video using IP-based networks is delivering advanced services at lower cost across the spectrum, including residential users, business customers of varying sizes, and service providers.

A Conversation with Alan Kay: Big talk with the creator of smalltalk - and much more

Abstract: When you want to gain a historical perspective on personal computing and programming languages, why not turn to one of the industry’s preeminent pioneers? That would be Alan Kay, winner of last year’s Turing Award for leading the team that invented Smalltalk, as well as for his fundamental contributions to personal computing. Kay was one of the founders of the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), where he led one of several groups that together developed modern workstations (and the forerunners of the Macintosh), Smalltalk, the overlapping window interface, desktop publishing, the Ethernet, laser printing, and network client-servers.

Sensible Authentication: According to the author of Beyond Fear, it’s not enough to know who you are; you’ve got to prove it.

Abstract: The problem with securing assets and their functionality is that, by definition, you don’t want to protect them from everybody. It makes no sense to protect assets from their owners, or from other authorized individuals (including the trusted personnel who maintain the security system). In effect, then, all security systems need to allow people in, even as they keep people out. Designing a security system that accurately identifies, authenticates, and authorizes trusted individuals is highly complex and filled with nuance, but critical to security.

Digitally Assisted Analog Integrated Circuits: Closing the gap between analog and digital

Abstract: In past decades, “Moore’s law”1 has governed the revolution in microelectronics. Through continuous advancements in device and fabrication technology, the industry has maintained exponential progress rates in transistor miniaturization and integration density. As a result, microchips have become cheaper, faster, more complex, and more power efficient.

A Conversation with Bruce Lindsay: Designing for failure may be the key to success.

Abstract: Designing for failure may be the key to success.

Error Messages: What’s the Problem?

Abstract: Computer users spend a lot of time chasing down errors - following the trail of clues that starts with an error message and that sometimes leads to a solution and sometimes to frustration. Problems with error messages are particularly acute for system administrators (sysadmins) - those who configure, install, manage, and maintain the computational infrastructure of the modern world - as they spend a lot of effort to keep computers running amid errors and failures.

Massively Multiplayer Middleware: Building scaleable middleware for ultra-massive online games teaches a lesson we all can use: Big project, simple design.

Abstract: Wish is a multiplayer, online, fantasy role-playing game being developed by Mutable Realms. It differs from similar online games in that it allows tens of thousands of players to participate in a single game world. Allowing such a large number of players requires distributing the processing load over a number of machines and raises the problem of choosing an appropriate distribution technology.