Software Engineering and Programming Languages
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The relationship of MIS steering committees to size of firm and formalization of MIS planning
Top-level management and directors of management information systems (MIS) have been urged to oversee information systems (IS) development efforts using MIS steering committees. Although such committees have been shown to assist with planning problems facing the MIS director, little is known about just how such committees relate to the planning process. Drawing on organizational theory literature, a conceptual model is presented that relates firm size and MIS steering committees to four IS planning practices. The results of this survey of 456 MIS directors suggest that use of an MIS steering committee is associated with more formalized and systematic MIS planning. However, some of these relationships are stronger in large firms.
The partial metrics system: modeling the stepwise refinement process using partial metrics
The Partial Metrics System design is explained, with an emphasis on the refinement process. A model, with its three phases, shows that the pseudocode refinement process can be monitored in partial metric terms.
Markup systems and the future of scholarly text processing
Markup practices can affect the move toward systems that support scholars in the process of thinking and writing. Whereas procedural and presentational markup systems retard that movement, descriptive markup systems accelerate the pace by simplifying mechanical tasks and allowing the authors to focus their attention on the content.
A plausibility-driven approach to computer architecture design
A dilemma skirting the discipline of computer architecture concerns the plausibility of architectural designs. To counter the widely held perception that architecture is a nebulous entity is a proposal to view such designs as specifications of constraints to be satisfied.
The vocabulary problem in human-system communication
In almost all computer applications, users must enter correct words for the desired objects or actions. For success without extensive training, or in first-tries for new targets, the system must recognize terms that will be chosen spontaneously. We studied spontaneous word choice for objects in five application-related domains, and found the variability to be surprisingly large. In every case two people favored the same term with probability
Profiles in computing: Donald E. Knuth: scholar with a passion for the particular
"Age 30 is kind of appropriate because I got the first copy of volume 1 from the publisher nine days after my 30th birthday. So, a large part of the work had been done when I was 30 years old. They already were working on typesetting the second volume."
Commenting on his books' influence, Knuth says, "It's been phenomenal from my point of view. In 1976 a study was done of how many people writing papers on computer science made a reference to my book somewhere in their articles, and it was found that about 30 percent of the papers in Communications, Journal of the ACM, and SIAM Journal on Computing cited the book. So it has an impact in that way." What about sales? Knuth notes that publishers may joke about professors whose books never sell, but they don't apply here. "I know that people buy the book. I don't know how many read it. But the sales have been incredible. I think something between 1000 and 2000 copies [have been sold] per month for 20 years."
Profiles in computing: Allan L. Scherr
"Most of the work I've done has been done to break things into existence that didn't exist before. . . . In a sense, my whole career's been about building organizations that didn't exist before, creating processes to do things that have never been done before, and solving technical problems that hadn't been solved before. The work I did at MIT was that way as well. There was no real foundation to build on, and I had to make it up as I went along. That's characterized, if not my whole career, at least the parts of my career that I consider the most rewarding."
"Pioneers are also the people that get arrows shot through them. That's the downside, and I've had my share of arrows pulled out of my hide."
Profiles in computing: Brian K. Reid: a graphics tale of a hacker tracker
"When the Securities Exchange Commission was created by Franklin Roosevelt, he was trying to fix a lot of problems on Wall Street. There were various Ivan Boesky-type crimes being committed on the stock market, and Roosevelt wanted to create a regulatory agency that would keep it in line. He wanted to hire a sheriff to police Wall Street. What he did was he hired the person who was absolutely, unarguably, the biggest criminal on Wall Street—the person who was guilty of the most crimes. And he put him in charge of the Securities Exchange Commission, figuring that that person, being the most successful Wall Street bandit, knew all the tricks and could police his friends. And that person did a really good job of cleaning up Wall Street actually, because he did know all the tricks."
"In a certain sense, I got my start in the computer business by bending the rules, or not knowing what the rules were. I was extremely good at penetrating everyone's computer security when I was a kid. And, because of my tremendous knowledge in this area, I have frequently been called in to help catch people who break in. . . ."
A severe problem in the processing of encrypted data is that very often, in order to perform arithmetic operations on the data, one has to convert the data back to its nonencrypted origin before performing the required operations. This paper addresses the issue of processing data that have been encrypted while the data are in an encrypted mode. It develops a new approach for encryption models that can facilitate the processing of such data. The advantages of this approach are reviewed, and a basic algorithm is developed to prove the feasibility of the approach.
A metamodel of information flow: a tool to support information systems theory
In this paper an axiomatic, fundamental metamodel of data flow is constructed. The components of the metamodel are the states along the flow of data: physical events, language (data), stored data, human data processing, and decision making. Transfers from one state to another are performed by functions: coding, keying, processing, perceptions, and human acting. The entire flow is evaluated by a value function. Each of the states and functions is rigorously described by means of definitions, axioms, and theorems. The main purpose of the metamodel is to provide a common framework for various models in MIS and consequently to remedy the "Tower of Babel" syndrome prevailing in this area. The way the metamodel can be used to develop other models in MIS is explained in the last part of the paper.
The 1984 Olympic Message System: a test of behavioral principles of system design
There was more than athletic talent being pressed to peak performance at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. Behind the scenes, a multilingual Olympic Message System ran round-the-clock keeping more than 10,000 athletes and officials in contact with families and friends, both far and near.
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