Dr. Dobb's Blogs

Dr. Dobb's Virtual Event: Soup-to-Nuts Dev

Fri, 22 Oct 2010 09:29:37 -0400

If you've been looking for a soup-to-nuts overview of parallel programming, the place to start is Robert Geva's "Parallel Programming on Intel Architecture with Intel Parallel Studio, which is part of Dr. Dobb's SD Virtual Event: The World of Software Development on October 27, 2010.

Deterministic Parallel Java

Wed, 13 Oct 2010 04:58:55 -0400

Ensuring that Java programmers aren't left out in the cold, parallel programming wise, computer scientists have developed Deterministic Parallel Java, a parallel programming language that guarantees deterministic semantics without run-time checks for general-purpose, object-oriented programs.

Dr. Dobb's Mobile Developer: Free, As In...Free

Fri, 08 Oct 2010 12:21:59 -0400

If you're keen on developing software for mobile platforms, I have a treat for you. If you're not keen on mobile apps -- well, wake up, it's time to jump on the bandwagon.

An Editor's Work is Never Done

Tue, 28 Sep 2010 14:49:40 -0400

I'm here to lay to rest the scurrilous accusations that I only show up at events like the recent Itanium Innovation Awards because the food is good -- and free.

What Does Dr. Dobb's Survey Have to do with Dr. Dobb's Virtual Event? Everything!

Fri, 17 Sep 2010 14:03:48 -0400

Dr. Dobb's, in cooperation with Forrester Research, wants to better understand how evolving tools and technologies are affecting the software developer community.

Parallelism and Education: Rough Waters in a Sea of Change

Mon, 13 Sep 2010 12:15:30 -0400

One measure of the quality of education might well be how soon you find yourself employed once you're out of school. But the problem the past few years hasn't been in the quality of education, rather in the demands of the job market.

Parallel Studio 2011: Now We Know What Happened to Ct, Cilk++, and RapidMind

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 06:20:09 -0400

Intel has released Parallel Studio 2011, a suite of tools intended to simplify and speed up the development of parallel programs running on multicore architectures. Based on the Parallel Studio package released last year, Parallel Studio 2011 adds expanded threading libraries and a threading advisor to its C++ compiler, error-checking and profiling tools.

Parallel Studio 2011: Now We Know What Happened to Ct, Cilk++, and RapidMind

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 06:12:51 -0400

Jolt Awards: And the Round 2 Winners Are...

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 06:44:59 -0400

Round 2 of the Jolt Product Excellence Awards in the App Libraries and Frameworks category is complete and the winners are.... wait a minute, we need a drum roll, please. There, that's a little better.

Parallel Studio's Dirty Little Secret

Fri, 20 Aug 2010 14:03:45 -0400

From what I can tell, the consensus is that Intel's Parallel Studio is a fine piece of work for Windows C\C++ programmers who write and develop programs using Microsoft Visual Studio.

Jolt Awards: Big Wheels Turning

Fri, 06 Aug 2010 11:54:38 -0400

If you've been following Dr. Dobb's Jolt Awards, you already know that they're moving forward at a break-neck pace.

Code Signing

Wed, 04 Aug 2010 08:12:00 -0400

Code signing is the process of using cryptographic hashes to digitally sign executables — thereby ensuring the software author is who he says he is, and to further ensure that the code has not been altered, either by accident or otherwise. Yes, a security process, but more than just security. And important, clearly important.

Big Blue Crushes Crime

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 12:42:33 -0400

The good news for law-abiding citizens of Memphis, Tennessee, is that the city's police department has teamed up with IBM to fight crime using predictive analytics software. The good news? Yep. Serious crime has been reduced by more than 30 percent, including a 15 percent reduction in violent crimes since 2006.

Updates: Survey and Jolt Awards

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 11:32:24 -0400

The 'Visual Programming' Silver Bullet

Tue, 13 Jul 2010 12:19:38 -0400

App Inventor is a tool from Google Labs that is intended to make it easy for non-programmers to create mobile applications for Android-powered devices. What's missing in this is the word "good", as in " make it easy for non-programmers to create good mobile applications."

Think Parallel, Think Java

Wed, 07 Jul 2010 08:48:28 -0400

For the most part, parallel programming for today's multicore and manycore architectures have been purview of C++ (think Intel's Threaded Building Blocks, Parallel Studio, RapidMind, and Cilk++) and functional languages (Erlang, Haskell, Scala, and the like). What's missing? How about Java.

Jolt Awards: Libraries and Frameworks Coming Up

Thu, 01 Jul 2010 09:35:57 -0400

Vintage Data Sheets: More Than Just Pocket Change

Fri, 25 Jun 2010 09:16:31 -0400

To put you in the mood for the weekend, here's my feel-good story of the day....

Ahead of the Curve

Wed, 23 Jun 2010 05:32:28 -0400

The Jolt Awards are underway and judging for the first round -- Books -- is heating up.

Shareware: Thanks for the Memories

Wed, 16 Jun 2010 07:37:48 -0400

Shareware. Now there's a word you don't hear much these days. In a nutshell, shareware is proprietary software provided to users without payment, usually on a trial basis. By "trial basis" I mean that either the software is crippled by missing functionality or by a limited number of uses or by a set period of time. By whatever mechanism, shareware is built on the try-before-you-buy model.

Books: The Jolt Award Judging Is Underway (Almost)

Tue, 15 Jun 2010 12:16:05 -0400

The Product Category kicking off the new and improved Jolt Awards is Books -- and the judging is already underway. Well, almost underway.

The Jolt Awards: We're Back!

Wed, 09 Jun 2010 11:49:37 -0400

I'm happy to announce that the Jolt Awards are back! Granted in a slightly different format, but the goal -- and the judges and categories -- are the same: The Jolt Product Excellence Awards recognize the most innovative, trend-making, ahead-of-the-curve products. Jolt Award winners are the software products, books and technologies that developers should be using today.

Five Years and Counting

Wed, 09 Jun 2010 08:10:37 -0400

Gosh! Has it really been five years since Herb Sutter's seminal article A Fundamental Turn Toward Concurrency in Software hit the newsstands? Yes, and like Herb recently said, "Time flies when you're having fun."

Up Off the Couch

Tue, 01 Jun 2010 12:46:01 -0400

"Exergaming" is a genre of video game that uses physical activity as input. With its roots in Virtual Reality research of the 1980s, exergaming has become accessible and popular thanks to Nintendo's Wii Sports exercise games such as as tennis, baseball, golf, bowling, and boxing.

Odds and Ends...

Fri, 21 May 2010 05:16:54 -0400

...and in no particular order.