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Research and Advances

A virtual memory system for picture processing

A virtual memory system designed specifically for picture processing, Raster Handler 2 provides programs with efficient access to pixels. It features square partition of images, imbalanced allocation of frames, and nondemand page replacement. RH2 is implemented in software and incorporates a prepaging algorithm designed specifically for picture processing.
Research and Advances

Accommodating uncertainty in software design

Recognition that most software is domain dependent (DD) is extremely important because the most commonly used software life-cycle models are not adequate for DD software. The nature of DD software, and the need to manage its life cycle effectively, calls for a new approach to software design and the implementation of software development environments.
Research and Advances

Evolution and organizational information systems: an assessment of Nolan's stage model

Richard Nolan's stage model is the best known and most widely cited model of computing evolution in organizations. The model's development over a decade demonstrates its own evolution from a simple theory, based on the factoring of change states indicated by changes in computing budgets, to an elaborate account of the characteristics of six stages of computing growth. An analysis of the model's logical and empirical structure reveals a number of problems in its formulation that help to account for the fact that its principal tenets have not been independently validated. The model is shown to be an “evolutionistic” theory within the theories of evolution in the social sciences, focusing on assumed directions of growth and an implied end state toward which growth proceeds, and suffering from problems inherent in such theories. Further research based on an “evolutionary” view of computing growth is suggested as a means of improving theories of computing in organizations.
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Research and Advances

A critque of the stage hypothesis: theory and empirical evidence

The stage hypothesis on the assimilation of computing technology provides one of the most popular models for describing and managing the growth of administrative information systems. Despite little formal evidence of its reliability or robustness, it has achieved a high level of acceptance among practitioners. We describe and summarize the findings of seven empirical studies conducted during the past six years that tested various hypotheses derived from this model. The accumulation of evidence from these studies casts considerable doubt on the validity of the stage hypothesis as an explanatory structure for the growth of computing in organizations. 3~
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Research and Advances

Predicative programming Part II

Part I of this two-part paper presented a new semantics of programs. Each program is considered to be a predicate, in a restricted notation, that specifies the observable behavior of a computer executing the program. We considered a variety of notations, including assignment, composition (semicolon), deterministic choice (if), nondeterministic choice, definition (nonrecursive and recursive), and variable declaration. We did not consider any input or output notations, or concurrency; that is the subject of Part II. We assume the reader is familiar with Part I, so that we can build on ideas presented there.
Research and Advances

A user-friendly software environment for the novice programmer

SOLO, a nonnumerical programming language, was developed at The Open University in the U.K. to support a course on Cognitive Psychology. It was designed to acquaint students as painlessly as possible with the computing fundamentals necessary both to grasp AI principles as applied in Cognitive Psychology and to actually initiate fairly sophisticated exercises on their own. The language has been used successfully by more than 2500 social science students.

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