Stories about: Precept

Computer scientist and compiler expert Alfred V. Aho is a man at the forefront of computer science research. He has been involved in the development of programming languages from his days working as the vice president of the Computing Sciences Research Center at Bell Labs to his current position as Lawrence Gussman Professor in the Computer Science Department at Columbia University.

Rules, metrics, processes can boost the bottom line, lift productivity and ease communication between IT and business. John Cox reports on how rules and processes deliver the goods

Editor sandra_ rossi@idg.com.au checks the inbox for hot news tips and sends an exclusive gbu mug to tipsters

So you spot the IT job ad that so closely fits your profile that you might have written it yourself. Look no further, your application says, and here's my CV to prove I'm the perfect candidate. So how come you missed out? How can the prospective employer be so blind?

Microprocessors giants such as Intel and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) have been performing a risky technological high-wire act ever since their chips - some as fast as 1GHz - began exceeding the system bus speed, according to several industry experts.

What's the worst business in the world - one characterized by commodity products, asset intensity, low growth and unpredictable demand? Well, Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos has been quoted as saying he'd like to position his company to sell anything at all - except concrete.

Intel Corp. showed off its upcoming Pentium 4 processor with several graphics-heavy demonstrations, then revved one of the chips to 2 GHz Tuesday at the opening keynote of the Intel Developer Forum.

In Silicon Valley, the start-up-in-search-of-an-IPO is cliché, and the pure research and development lab is an unattainable dream for many engineers.

Former Cisco Systems Inc. CTO Judy Estrin and her husband, Bill Carrico, have started up yet another entrepreneurial company, the fourth in 20 years.

The scramble for IT talent continues to get ever more intense . . . and creative. Nortel Networks Corp. recently hired 34 soon-to-be graduates of Santa Clara University's computer engineering school - one-third of this year's class - en masse to tackle an upcoming project as a ready-made team.

War does funny things sometimes. today, we have the Internet-a redundant network of independent computers-because the federal government wanted to ensure communications even if one particular computer was wiped out by an atomic bomb. It started as the DARPAnet, a Department of Defense project, and today it's bolstering the global economy as never before. And since countries tend not to bomb their trading partners, this offshoot of war is a big contributor to peace.