Random Accesses

Now that almost all new servers and computers are running processors with multiple cores, the software-design community is trying to figure out the best way of making use of this new architecture. Unfortunately, the community is divided about what the best way would to split their programs across these multiple cores.

Getting the full workload of multicore processors can be tricky because, in order for a program to make use of more than one core, it must divvy its workload in such a way that it doesn't take more effort than the gains achieved by adding more cores. Most programming languages were written assuming just one processor would be working through the code sequentially, line by line.

Source: http://gcn.com/blogs/tech-blog/2009/06/new-parallel-processing-languages.aspx

When you consider the quantity and diversity of models and philosophies available for software development, it’s a wonder why many projects fail even when developers deliver on key criteria such as functionality, efficiency, reliability, and so on. There’s even a ZDNet blog that chronicles IT project mishap after mishap.

But observers are noticing that a major shift to how software systems are developed is underway, and it’s less rigid, more adaptive and evolutionary.

In a recent post on Toolbox.com, David Tow, an Australian author, engineer, and technologist with 20 years experience and a knack for describing future trends, isolates the seminal problem of how best to capture the requirements of a system. “It is the elephant in the room at almost every CIO seminar and conference,” he writes.

Source: http://blogs.zdnet.com/emergingtech/?p=1512

As Intel and rival Advanced Micro Devices increase computer performance by adding cores to microprocessors, software makers are left with the daunting task of writing applications that take full advantage of the complex environment. Intel hopes to lend a hand through a new programming language -- called Ct -- the chipmaker has developed specifically for multi-core computing.

Ct was among the dozens of projects Intel had on display Wednesday at the Computer History Museum, Mountain View, Calif. While most of the technology demonstrated at the open house for Intel labs is years away from being productized, Ct is relatively close.

The language is an extension of C/C++, which are very familiar to software developers getting applications ready to run on Intel or AMD platforms. Where the languages require developers to manually partition code to run on specific cores, Ct does it automatically. "With Ct, it's almost like you're writing to a single-core machine," Mohan Rajagopalan, a senior researcher for Intel, said. "You leave it to the compiler and runtime to parallelize."

Source: http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/development/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=208403616

Back in May 2006, a few programmers working on an open-source security project made a whopper of a mistake. Last week, the full impact of that mistake was just beginning to dawn on security professionals around the world.

In technical terms, a programming error reduced the amount of entropy used to create the cryptographic keys in a piece of code called the OpenSSL library, which is used by programs like the Apache Web server, the SSH remote access program, the IPsec Virtual Private Network (VPN), secure e-mail programs, some software used for anonymously accessing the Internet, and so on.

In plainer language: after a week of analysis, we now know that two changed lines of code have created profound security vulnerabilities in at least four different open-source operating systems, 25 different application programs, and millions of individual computer systems on the Internet. And even though the vulnerability was discovered on May 13 and a patch has been distributed, installing the patch doesn't repair the damage to the compromised systems. What's even more alarming is that some computers may be compromised even though they aren't running the suspect code.

Source: http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/20801

A technology that can recognise anxiety in people is being developed by an Australian computer scientist. Australian National University researcher Gordon McIntyre says the technology could be applied in a range of areas from aged care to driver safety.

McIntyre, a PhD student from the Research School of Information Services and Engineering, is working on a computer system that detects anxiety by analysing a person's speech and facial expressions.

Changes in speech rhythm and pitch and any quavering in the voice are picked up by speech recognition software. While changes in facial expressions are tracked using artificial neural networks, which mimic how the brain processes information.

In developing the project, McIntyre plotted 65 landscape points on the face that change during various emotional states, such as the eyebrows, lips and nose. The computer determines emotions by measuring changes in the location of these landscape points compared to an average or expression-free face.

Source: http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/2007/2075023.htm?tech