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dateMore Than a Year Ago
subjectSoftware
authorMIT News
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An edited collection of advanced computing news from Communications of the ACM, ACM TechNews, other ACM resources, and news sites around the Web.


The Complexonaut
From ACM Opinion

The Complexonaut

When he was in elementary school, Scott Aaronson, like many mathematically precocious kids of his generation, dreamed of making his own video games.

Orienteering For Robots
From ACM News

Orienteering For Robots

Suppose you're trying to navigate an unfamiliar section of a big city, and you’re using a particular cluster of skyscrapers as a reference point.

Soft Robotic Fish Moves Like the Real Thing
From ACM News

Soft Robotic Fish Moves Like the Real Thing

Soft robots—which don’t just have soft exteriors but are also powered by fluid flowing through flexible channels—have become a sufficiently popular research topic...

Self-Completing Programs
From ACM TechNews

Self-Completing Programs

The Sketch programming language enables programmers to leave out some coding details, with Sketch filling in the blanks. 

Self-Completing Programs
From ACM News

Self-Completing Programs

Since he was a graduate student, Armando Solar-Lezama, an associate professor in MIT's Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, has been working...

Smarter Caching
From ACM News

Smarter Caching

Computer chips keep getting faster because transistors keep getting smaller.

From ACM News

Herding Robots

Writing a program to control a single autonomous robot navigating an uncertain environment with an erratic communication link is hard enough; write one for multiple...

Bringing the World Reboot-Less ­pdates
From ACM TechNews

Bringing the World Reboot-Less ­pdates

The Ksplice software automatically applies patches to an operating system without having to reboot. 

Seeing Things: A New Transparent Display System Could Provide Heads-up Data
From ACM News

Seeing Things: A New Transparent Display System Could Provide Heads-up Data

Transparent displays have a variety of potential applications—such as the ability to see navigation or dashboard information while looking through the windshield...

Marvin Minsky Honored For Lifetime Achievements in Artificial Intelligence
From ACM News

Marvin Minsky Honored For Lifetime Achievements in Artificial Intelligence

MIT Media Lab professor emeritus Marvin Minsky, 86, a pioneer in the field of artificial intelligence, has won the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award...

New Algorithm Can Dramatically Streamline Solutions to the 'max Flow' Problem
From ACM News

New Algorithm Can Dramatically Streamline Solutions to the 'max Flow' Problem

Finding the most efficient way to transport items across a network like the U.S. highway system or the Internet is a problem that has taxed mathematicians and computer...

New System Allows For High-Accuracy, Through-Wall, 3D Motion Tracking
From ACM News

New System Allows For High-Accuracy, Through-Wall, 3D Motion Tracking

Imagine playing a video game like Call of Duty or Battlefield and having the ability to lead your virtual army unit while moving freely throughout your house.

3-D Images, With Only One Photon Per Pixel
From ACM News

3-D Images, With Only One Photon Per Pixel

Lidar rangefinders, which are common tools in surveying and in autonomous-vehicle control, among other applications, gauge depth by emitting short bursts of laser...

'wise Chisels': Art, Craftsmanship, and Power Tools
From ACM News

'wise Chisels': Art, Craftsmanship, and Power Tools

It's often easy to tell at a glance the difference between a mass-produced object and one that has been handcrafted: The handmade item is likely to have distinctive...

How to Program Unreliable Chips
From ACM News

How to Program Unreliable Chips

As transistors get smaller, they also become less reliable.

Big Plans For Small Spacecraft
From ACM News

Big Plans For Small Spacecraft

It's hard to miss the rocket engine in Paulo Lozano's MIT office.

Dude, Where's My Code?
From ACM TechNews

Dude, Where's My Code?

Stack is a new system that automatically combs through programmers' code, identifying those lines that compilers might discard, but that could be functional. 

Making Martian Clouds on Earth
From ACM News

Making Martian Clouds on Earth

At first glance, Mars' clouds might easily be mistaken for those on Earth: Images of the Martian sky, taken by NASA's Opportunity rover, depict gauzy, high-altitude...

New Kind of Microscope Uses Neutrons
From ACM News

New Kind of Microscope Uses Neutrons

Researchers at MIT, working with partners at NASA, have developed a new concept for a microscope that would use neutrons—subatomic particles with no electrical...

Bringing 'common Sense' to Text Analytics
From ACM News

Bringing 'common Sense' to Text Analytics

Bringing "common sense" to artificial intelligence is one of the biggest challenges in computer science: It entails equipping computers with the shared knowledge...
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