Computing Reviews News

Featured Reviewer: Xiannong Meng

Each month we pose questions to a Computing Reviews featured reviewer. Here are the responses from our September featured reviewer, Xiannong Meng.

Q) What is the most important thing that's happened in computing in the past 10 years?

A) I think the most important thing that has happened in computing in the past 10 years is the pervasive use of computing technology in our everyday life, including e-commerce, social media, and data analytics, among others. For computing itself, I'd say cloud computing (in all its forms) has been the most important thing.

Q) If you weren't working in the computer science field, what would you be doing instead?

A) I enjoy working with students. So, if I were not in the computer science field, I'd probably teach math as I have some basic training in this field. If I had complete financial freedom, I'd probably just read and listen to music.

Q) By the end of your career, where do you think computer science will have taken us? What are you working on that might contribute toward that?

A) I think computing will become more "humane." Machines of all forms, including the Internet and the software on them, will interact with and serve humans in more efficient and effective ways. As an educator, I encourage my students to keep an open mind and help computing evolve in this direction.

Q) Who is your favorite historical figure? Why?

A) Out of all the biographies and autobiographies I have read, which isn't too many, I like Harry Truman the most. He is less well known than FDR, though his influence is comparable.

During his six years in office, he directed, participated in, and experienced such historical events as the use of the atomic bomb, the creation of the United Nations (UN), the recognition of Israel, the Berlin Airlift and the Marshall Plan, Churchill’s speech in Truman’s hometown (a precursor to the Cold War), the creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), withdrawing from mainland China in 1949, and committing troops to the Korean War while limiting the scale of the war.

Domestically, he was the first president to recommend Medicare—he even proposed “Medicare for All” while in office. He was a “common man” who worked for the common American.

Q) What is your favorite type of music?

A) I like two types of music: classical and easy listening. Classical music gives us inspiration, while easy listening music lets us relax after work.

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Click here to read one of Xiannong’s highlighted reviews.

Featured Reviewer: Scott Moody

Each month we pose questions to a Computing Reviews featured reviewer. Here are the responses from our August featured reviewer, Scott Moody.

Q) What is the most important thing that's happened in computing in the past 10 years?

A) I'm impressed with the scale of application distribution networks (app stores) and the breadth and power of devices (phones, tablets, TV, watches, the Internet of Things (IoT), and so on). With advanced code editing environments (like XCode and Flutter) and optimizing compilers, programming to these device framework libraries has become more significant and more language agnostic. The same compiled application bits are distributed to millions of devices hourly (try that exactness following a published cookbook algorithm). Gutenberg would be impressed!

Q) If you weren't working in the computer science field, what would you be doing instead?

A) I've always enjoyed photography, especially of my own activities like mountain climbing and ocean sports. But my mind has always thought there must be a simpler approach to problems (like finding or displaying photos), and with computer science (CS) the potential for building “an app for that” is unlimited.

Q) By the end of your career, where do you think computer science will have taken us? What are you working on that might contribute toward that?

A) CS must find new approaches to manage nondeterministic unbounded complexities. We've hit a metaphorical iceberg and inverted the original intent of the "Internet," as there are now vastly more “mobile, wireless, sensor devices” than “well-known" services [1]. Newer automatic programming approaches are needed that can leverage bigger chunks of reusable capability, expanding approaches like CocoaPods, GitHub, and app stores. More nimble, reusable, and executable software architecture approaches are needed. Just like a photo being worth a 1000 words, I believe the rapid advances in computer vision will outpace speech recognition approaches, especially for those that can't pass the CAPTCHA not-a-robot tests.

Much like Peter Denning's "Great principles of computing" [2], I've been focused on cataloging these architecture challenges and trying to disseminate them to students and others while overcoming what seems to be our collective "18 second attention span" ("18 seconds" is from one of Scott Adams' podcasts, but I've included a reference where he talks about reduced attention spans [3]). I've been exploring various distributed collaboration approaches across a wide breadth of devices, agents, networks, and users. The IoT genre provides a foundation for easily testing new devices and providing immediate user feedback (or at least in 18 seconds). I can even feed my dogs remotely from my wristwatch, just like Dick Tracy. CS enabled me to envision and build “an app for that.”

Q) Who is your favorite historical figure? Why?

A) I’ve always liked Lady Ada, Countess of Lovelace (1815-1852), daughter of the poet Lord Byron. She lived during the “Victorian Internet” era and worked with Charles Babbage to understand and disseminate his "computer" ideas, even sending detailed messages back and forth five times a day by runner (basically early email). Thus she is potentially the first (female) computer scientist, in 1843, programming in a non-existing language for a non-existing computer and discovering important CS formalisms. I've always liked this quote from Lady Ada on concurrency:

"There are frequently several distinct sets of effects going on simultaneously; all in a manner independent of each other and yet to a greater of less degree exercising a mutual influence.” [4]

I'm glad the Ada Language is named after her, codifying her concurrency in the Ada tasking and rendezvous model.

Q) What is your favorite type of music?

A) I listen to music constantly and really like rock and roll, especially electric guitars and long jams; Van Morrison, Wagner, and other music works, too. But CS sneaks in again, as the frequency from a microwave oven (while heating my coffee) interferes with the IoT Bluetooth speakers and has me wishing to “put the cable back.” There must be “an app for that.”

REFERENCES

[1] NSF Wireless Mobile Planning Group (WMPG) Workshop. “New architectures and disruptive technologies for the future Internet: the wireless, mobile and sensor network perspective.” Aug. 2-3, 2005, http://www.winlab.rutgers.edu/WMPG/Documents/WMPG_draft_report_v3_604.pdf.

[2] Denning, P. “The great principles of computing.” April 2008, https://denninginstitute.com/pjd/PUBS/ENC/gp08.pdf.

[3] Adams, S. “Things I can’t do.” April 17, 2014, https://www.scottadamssays.com/2014/04/17/things-i-cant-do/.

[4] Toole, B. A. (Ed.). Ada, the enchantress of numbers. Strawberry Press, Mill Valley, CA, 1992.

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Featured Reviewer: Andrea Paramithiotti

Each month we pose questions to a Computing Reviews featured reviewer. Here are the responses from our July featured reviewer, Andrea Paramithiotti.

Q) What is the most important thing that's happened in computing in the past 10 years?

A) The gradual spread of computing to most aspects of modern life, just as electricity did in its time.

Q) If you weren't working in the computer science field, what would you be doing instead?

A) I would probably be working in some other engineering field.

Q) By the end of your career, where do you think computer science will have taken us? What are you working on that might contribute toward that?

A) Computer science will probably have the same effect on organizational aspects of business and professional life that the Industrial Revolution had during the 19^th century. I’m working on this for my customers.

Q) Who is your favorite historical figure? Why?

A) Winston Churchill—he held fast in difficult times and inspired others to do the same.

Q) What is your favorite type of music?

A) Classical music.

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Click here to read one of Andrea’s highlighted reviews.

Featured Reviewer: Boumediene Belkhouche

Each month we pose questions to a Computing Reviews featured reviewer. Here are the responses from our June featured reviewer, Boumediene Belkhouche.

Q) What is the most important thing that's happened in computing in the past 10 years?

A) Technological advances (for example, cloud infrastructure, processing power, sensing) provided the necessary platform for the large-scale development and deployment of computing applications (for example, machine learning, data science, cloud/edge computing, blockchain, computer vision, virtual reality, autonomous vehicles, personal assistants). These applications have effectively generalized digital modeling to society at large, thus accelerating the digital transformation. Yet most of the general public sees only the wonders of these applications, unaware of what makes them tick. That is, these wonders are the manifestations of advances in computing systems (software and hardware).

Q) If you weren't working in the computer science field, what would you be doing instead?

A) In high school, I enjoyed very much history, literature (specifically poetry), and geography. I craved learning about other places, other people, and ancient times. I am still fascinated by these topics as they relate to society. Outside computer science, and specifically nowadays, I would dedicate my time to gain a humanistic understanding of the current state of affairs of our society, and hopefully share this understanding with others.

Q) By the end of your career, where do you think computer science will have taken us? What are you working on that might contribute toward that?

A) On the one hand, machine learning will face its litmus test to prove whether it is indeed artificial intelligence (AI) or just a sophisticated predictive statistics. On the other hand, computer science will take us beyond science fiction. It will continue the digital transformation by blurring the real and the virtual, allowing us to naturally move in and out. It will also provide all the tools for tyrants to subjugate their people. As for me, I am working on the notion of primitive learning, that is, a natural state in which infants and toddlers acquire knowledge effortlessly. I would like to develop a virtual environment that will give them more joy in their instinctive and continuous search for knowledge.

Q) What is your favorite type of music?

A) I enjoy a wide spectrum of music, whether it is “Ne Me Quitte Pas,” “Stairway to Heaven,” “Blowin’ in the Wind,” “The Sound of Silence,” “Carolina in My Mind,” or The Four Seasons. I also enjoy classical Algerian music, called Andalusian music, which originated in Andalusia at the end of the first millennium and is the first model of symphonic music.

Click here to read one of Boumediene’s highlighted reviews.

 

Featured in Five: Grigore Albeanu

Featured in Five is a monthly section where we pose five questions to a Computing Reviews featured reviewer. Here are the responses from our May featured reviewer, Grigore Albeanu.

 

Q) What is the most important thing that's happened in computing in the past 10 years?

A) The most impressive fact is related to AlphaGo Zero. The challenge now is how to transfer the experience for solving other tasks. Sure, a lot of technologies have been developed to increase communication speed and computation power, but creating more intelligent machines is very exciting.

Q) If you weren't working in the computer science field, what would you be doing instead?

A) During gymnasium, my dream was to go into physics. However, I learned computer science in high school, and then studied mathematics and computer science at university. If I had not had that particular high school experience, I think I would have gone on to study physical geography and geophysics.

Q) By the end of your career, where do you think computer science will have taken us? What are you working on that might contribute toward that?

A) Quantum computing will have a great impact on the future of the Internet and computing. As a computer science professor and researcher, I will continue to teach and develop algorithms, not only in classical paradigms but also in the quantum computing field.

Q) Who is your favorite historical figure? Why?

A) I have been impressed by many personalities in computing history, but I consider Alan Turing my favorite, as he is the father of computer science and artificial intelligence. 

Q) What is your favorite type of music?

A) I appreciate many types of music, including folk, country, and rock, but my favorite sounds come from classical pieces.

Click here to read one of Grigore’s highlighted reviews.

Featured in Five: Soon Ae Chun

Featured in Five is a monthly section where we pose five questions to a Computing Reviews featured reviewer. Here are the responses from our April featured reviewer, Soon Ae Chun.

Q) What is the most important thing that's happened in computing in the past 10 years?

A) Technology has advanced rapidly, creating global super-connectivity and thus the sharing of information among computers, devices, sensors, and humans. This connectivity has generated a huge amount of data of all sorts of formats and types, moving society into the Information Age. However, in my mind, the most impactful change in the last ten years is the democratization of computing due to smartphones, where information “processing” has become everybody’s business, beyond information technology (IT) and technical computing communities.

The byproducts of computing, such as data, machine learning models, and artificial intelligence (AI) machines, are readily available to users, empowering them to be more aware of societal issues. For example, the data policies, personal data collection, and usage/storage behaviors of IT companies have become a big issue for both individuals and governments. The issues raised by systemic biases embedded in AI and machine learning models include inequality and exclusion, which many computing fields have traditionally considered “somebody else’s problem.” They are no longer separate fields of study. This trend of rethinking the computing field’s priorities and convergence with other social issues will continue in the coming years, as it is key to becoming a more user-sensitive, information-centered, and intelligence-focused society.

Q) If you weren't working in the computer science field, what would you be doing instead?

A) I would have liked farming in the countryside: a simple life of predictable outputs and regularities, close to nature, and working with a close-knit community. 

Q) By the end of your career, where do you think computer science will have taken us? What are you working on that might contribute toward that?

A) As mentioned above, the “future” of computing will need to consider some qualitative dimensions: morality, ethics, fairness, inclusiveness, and so on. The fact that IT companies take the lion’s share of profits regardless of these dimensions will not (and should not) be acceptable or sustainable. As computer scientists, we should be aware of the pervasive impact of IT on every aspect of society. Furthermore, we are responsible for our artifacts and products, as well as the processes involved in making them. 

I am looking into the impact of technology on governments, governance, and citizens, with the hope that a transformed future society facilitated by computing can be designed better if we consider and overcome various challenges posed by non-algorithmic aspects we did not deeply incorporate. Standing at the threshold of the next stage in the Information Age, there is still much to do: redefining what we mean by democracy in this hyper-intelligent society, and what the socioeconomic policies in this technology-driven society should be, and clarifying many other concepts such as collaborative governance, transparent and fair governments, and citizen participation.    

Q) Who is your favorite historical figure? Why?

A) I like ordinary people, as each individual lives their life with unique experiences, challenges, and achievements. Every human being seems to go through life’s unique path, but most people’s records are not preserved like those of well-known historical figures due to their “ordinary” status. I admire the crowds who make small impacts via their personal lives in each era. Without them, heroic figures would not exist. For example, without patients willing to go through clinical studies, medical scientists may not discover culminating results, and without small voices from crowds, we may not have towering political leaders.    

Q) What is your favorite type of music?

A) I like all sorts of music: classical, rock, indie music, and K-pop. They all convey human emotions, impressions, and life lessons in different formats and in different eras.  Music is a language understood by everyone, touching upon all aspects of humanity.  

Click here to read one of Soon’s highlighted reviews.

 

Featured in Five: Dominik Strzalka

Featured in Five is a monthly section where we pose five questions to a Computing Reviews featured reviewer. Here are the responses from our March featured reviewer, Dominik Strzalka.

Q: What is the most important thing that's happened in computing in the past 10 years?

A: I believe that the most important thing is the possibility to use a computer in almost every place on Earth, by almost everyone who wants this, with direct access to the Internet. A computer system is no longer a machine that arouses negative emotions related to fear, anxiety, and embarrassment. It is a common device that is "normal" to us, like a car, bicycle, train, plane, or fridge.

Q: If you weren't working in the computer science field, what would you be doing instead?

A: When I was young, I would imagine being an electronics engineer with the magic ability to repair every device. When I was a teen, I wanted to be a satellite transmission systems specialist. Finally, I'm a computer scientist, but I also love cooking. However, because I live in a village, I would probably be a farmer.

Q: By the end of your career, where do you think computer science will have taken us? What are you working on that might contribute toward that?

A: We are surrounded by many interconnected and interdependent systems. I believe that sooner or later computer science will help us discover the complexity of systems and understand how nature works. I am trying to make a small contribution to this challenge.

Q: Who is your favorite historical figure? Why?

A: I haven't got just one favorite historical figure. There are many people who influence our lives, or even entire civilizations over centuries. I should probably choose someone from Poland, because our history as a nation is full of figures who have greatly influenced the whole world, but this is a very hard choice. One person who greatly affected my present life is US President Ronald Reagan, who was able to damage the Iron Curtain that divided Europe.

Q: What is your favorite type of music?

A: I'm a big fan of pop music from the '80s, especially many forgotten bands that are still in the minds of people who are 40+ years old. Music from the '80s reminds me of many great memories from childhood, when the whole world was much simpler and easier.

Click here to read one of Dominik’s highlighted reviews.

Featured in Five: Santiago Escobar

Featured in Five is a monthly section where we pose five questions to a Computing Reviews featured reviewer. Here are the responses from our February featured reviewer, Santiago Escobar.

Q: What is the most important thing that's happened in computing in the past 10 years?

A: Constraint satisfaction has been an important computing feature for decades; that said, despite very good techniques, algorithms, and tools, it is still far from being mainstream. Constraint satisfiability, on the other hand, where there is at least one solution rather than finding all the solutions, has been developed quite a lot in the last ten years and is now mainstream in many computer science areas. While it is still limited to some specific domains, such as nonlinear reals and strings, it has many applications.

Q: By the end of your career, where do you think computer science will have taken us? What are you working on that might contribute to that?

A: Building algorithms and programs has been a longstanding task for centuries, but its complexity and impact on society has been steadily increasing, with big challenges in areas such as artificial intelligence, privacy, and quantum computing. I imagine a world where programs will be immune to flaws, and thus really trustworthy, similar to today’s civil engineering.

Q: Who is your favorite historical figure? Why?

A: Tony Hoare, a British computer scientist and Turing Award winner, who envisioned a world of verifiable software, including verifiable programming languages. 

Q: If you weren't working in the computer science field, what would you be doing instead?

A: I can’t really imagine myself doing anything but computer science. Maybe biology, which is not so different from computer science in its computability roots. 

Q: What is your favorite type of music?

A: I am more of a book lover than a music fan. But I like classical, pop and rock, and Spanish music.

Click here to read one of Santiago’s highlighted reviews.

Featured in Five: Mariana Damova

Featured in Five is a monthly section where we pose five questions to a Computing Reviews featured reviewer. Here are the responses from our January featured reviewer, Mariana Damova.

Q: What is the most important thing that's happened in computing in the past 10 years?

A: The world has virtually changed in the last ten years due to advances in computing and digital technologies. However, it is important to stress the importance of quantum computing and the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), for example, reaching autonomous informed decision making to the extent of blending human intelligence and behavior. In response, the scientific community has turned to modeling ethics and searching for explainable AI to enable better collaboration between humans and machines.

Q: By the end of your career, where do you think computer science will have taken us? What are you working on that might contribute to that?

A: I think that by the end of my career humans and AI will have achieved optimal collaboration, and the way people work, think, communicate, learn, travel, and select preferences will be fundamentally disrupted. Space will become a natural extension of Earth and a habitat for humans and human-like AI. I work on methods of knowledge modeling and representation, mixing logical reasoning with machine learning techniques in order to cope with large-scale inconsistent and incomplete data, for instance, Earth observation data for applications using AI. I am positive that these methods will be transferable to other relevant domains and applications for achieving better collaboration between humans and AI and for enabling better autonomy of AI-based devices and solutions.

Q: Who is your favorite historical figure? Why?

A: This question made me think of what is meant by "historical figure," and to me a historical figure is a person who has contributed to the growth of mankind. That is why I would like to name not one but three such figures--bright minds that have been acknowledged by their contemporaries and whose inventions have greatly impacted the world: 1) Aristotle, the father of philosophy, and the science of categorization; 2) Leonardo da Vinci, the Renaissance Man, who recorded all kinds of technological innovations in his notebooks far ahead of his time; and 3) Alan Turing, the inventor of the Turing machine.

Q: If you weren't working in the computer science field, what would you be doing instead?

A: Actually, my domain--knowledge engineering--has led me to connect with quite a number of different subject matter areas, including business information, human resources management, historical archives, cultural heritage, natural language, customer service, Industry 4.0, and Earth observation, to name a few. This has allowed me to obtain an almost first-hand impression of the professional reality in these various fields, and I have consistently pursued the core of my professional interest to combine humanities with computer science and AI. But if for some unlikely reason I were not engaged with this, I would go back to my high school favorites: archeology and translation.

Q: What is your favorite type of music?

A: I listen to all kinds of music, but my favorite music is classical jazz.

Click here to read one of Mariana's highlighted reviews.

Featured in Five: Robert Wójcik

Featured in Five is a monthly section where we pose five questions to a Computing Reviews featured reviewer. Here are the responses from our March featured reviewer, Robert Wójcik.

 Q: What is the most important thing that's happened in computing in the past 10 years?
A: The appearance and development of the smartphone is the most life-changing “application” that we all use today. During the past 10 years, the development in this field is tremendous. Ten years ago, the first touchscreen devices started to appear and they quickly conquered the market. This device transformed from providing calling and texting functions to a complete handheld computer, providing more CPU power and storage than a lower-end PC. Now, we have a complete tool to assist us whenever a full-size PC in unavailable. Remarkable.

Q: By the end of your career, where do you think computer science will have taken us? What are you working on that might contribute to that?
A: One of the most critical advances in the near future will relate to autonomous vehicles, in which computer science plays a major role. Currently, we can observe the first instances of this trend; however, there is a lot to improve. I believe that there will come a time (during our lifetime) that people will be banned from driving cars, as they make fatal mistakes, which can be avoided by machines. At first, self-driving cars will also make mistakes; however, software bugs will be resolved in time, leading to completely safe travel. There is also a possibility that humans will be allowed to drive cars for fun; however, computer-assisted driving will turn on automatically if one drives recklessly.

Currently, I work in the field of computer networks. Robust, resilient, reliable, and always-available networks will allow this to happen. Cars will have to communicate with each other to create a truly safe ecosystem.

Q: Who is your favorite historical figure? Why?
A: I prefer to look to the future, rather than the past, so I do not dwell on history too much. If I had to choose, I would go for Ramses II, the greatest ruler of ancient Egypt, for his accomplishments, and especially for building the most beautiful temple in Abu Simbel.

Q: If you weren't working in the computer science field, what would you be doing instead?
A: I would be either a doctor or a lawyer. The first option would be easy as both my parents are accomplished doctors. My father is a general surgeon and my mother is a neurologist. I would choose the second option because I enjoy logical thinking and moral dilemmas. I think that I would have been a good lawyer.

Q: What is your favorite type of music?
A: I listen to all kinds of music, with slight preference to rock.

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