Author Archives: crista

To Big Or Not To Big

Posted on June 3, 2017 by crista

Big data is everywhere. Not surprisingly, it has come to our neck of the woods, too: research in software engineering, programming languages, and computer science in general. I’ve done a fair amount of work with it, and I suspect that … Continue reading →

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Walk the Talk

Posted on January 8, 2017 by crista

This post is primarily targeted at the Computer Science research communities that surround the ACM and the IEEE, but it applies to all tech communities that gravitate around conferences. I believe that an overwhelming majority of people in these communities is concerned … Continue reading →

Posted in computer scientists, conferences | 10 Comments

Divide by Zero! and Other Propaganda

Posted on December 15, 2016 by crista

I’ve been trying to wrap my head around this incredible moment in history. In trying to wrap my head around it, I’m turning to what I know best: programs, programming, and software-intensive systems. And their flaws. This is a mini-essay … Continue reading →

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Laws of Performant Software

Posted on September 19, 2016 by crista

Learning how to write performant code is hard. Here are a few simple laws that I hope will convey the core of the matter. I’m calling them…

Posted in advice, engineering, research | Tagged | 17 Comments

The Art, Science, and Engineering of Programming

Posted on September 10, 2016 by crista

I’ve been relatively low key about something that I’m very excited about, so, after several months of planning, and a first, somewhat quiet, submission deadline, it’s time to release my enthusiasm. A group of us have started a new conference called <Programming>  … Continue reading →

Posted in academia, conferences, research | 3 Comments

Automation

Posted on August 27, 2016 by crista

As a computer scientist specializing in programming, the social consequences of software-for-business-efficiency are worrying me more and more. Here at home, we’ve been having a conversation about what post-capitalism would look like in the face of quasi-universal automation, in the best … Continue reading →

Posted in commentary, fiction, life, social software systems | 3 Comments

Constraints

Posted on June 3, 2016 by crista

This post comes from an email conversation going on related to programming languages vs. libraries. The story goes that these days, the major productivity gains come not from new languages but from the existence of libraries that already do almost … Continue reading →

Posted in research | 10 Comments

Distributed Systems Testing: The Lost World

Posted on January 23, 2016 by crista

After failing to find good papers about distributed systems testing for many months, yesterday I asked a question in Twitter: Twitter friends: what papers or frameworks do you recommend regarding distributed systems regression or integration testing techniques? — Crista Lopes … Continue reading →

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Architectures for Massively Multi-User Environments

Posted on December 17, 2015 by crista

See my post at the IEEE Software Blog.

Posted in research, simulation, virtual reality | Comments Off on Architectures for Massively Multi-User Environments

Sexual Conflict

Posted on October 15, 2015 by crista

The recent scandal at UC Berkeley’s Astronomy department regarding a star Professor being accused of sexual harassment and consequently resigning from his position, has, once again, had me thinking about how institutions and organizations deal with sexual harassment. There are … Continue reading →

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