computer programming news stories on Newser

Computer Program Catches Chess Cheaters

Matt Cantor — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 14:18:12 CDT

Cheaters beware: A chess wiz has developed a program to catch you. Potential cheating has become a noted problem in chess, the New York Times reports. Alleged text messaging prompted a five-year ban on a trio of players in 2010; in 2006, a player was accused of using a computer...

Man Who Coined 'Artificial Intelligence' Dead at 84

Mark Russell — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 08:39:43 CDT

John McCarthy, the computer scientist who coined the term "artificial intelligence" in 1955, died Monday, reports the New York Times . He was 84. McCarthy was teaching mathematics at Dartmouth when he organized the first Artificial Intelligence conference in 1956. Later he founded AI labs at MIT and Stanford, and created...

Computer Visionary Dennis Ritchie Dead at 70

Evann Gastaldo — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 11:41:52 CDT

Dennis Ritchie, who invented the C programming language and helped create the UNIX operating system, died last weekend at age 70. His death after a long illness was first reported by Google engineer Rob Pike . Obituaries popping up on tech sites hail his work, vision, and legacy: “Ritchie's contribution to...

Kids Need Better Computer Classes

John Johnson — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 12:57:05 CDT

It's no wonder that young students shy away from computer programming, writes Neil McAllister at InfoWorld . The way schools teach it is so ... boring. "Traditional computer science classes at the high school level and earlier teach programming as if it was an end unto itself," he writes. Students write dull,...

Computer IDs the Most Boring Day Ever

Evann Gastaldo — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 17:57:05 CST

If you ever find yourself a bit bored, just be happy today isn't April 11, 1954. A Cambridge scientist developed a computer program to calculate the 20th century's most boring day, and that one takes the cake. The program, True Knowledge, was fed 300 million facts about people, places, business,...

Hidden Sex Scenes Cost Grand Theft Auto $20M

Mary Papenfuss — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 05:07:00 CDT

The makers of Grand Theft Auto are shelling out $20 million to settle a lawsuit over hidden sex scenes in a version of the popular video game, reports Gawker. The suit by investors claims Take-Two Interactive Software officials knew about the x-rated "Hot Coffee" minigame inserted by programmers before shipping...

Algorithm Can 'Fill in the Blanks' of Ancient Texts

Harry Kimball — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 13:56:58 CDT

A new computer algorithm could soon take some of the guesswork out of deciphering ancient texts, Reuters reports. The program, developed in Israel and currently used with ancient Hebrew, works with digital copies of unreadable texts and uses pattern recognition to “fill in the blanks,” says one of the developers....

'Hedonometer' Gauges US Mood Via Blogs, Tweets

Harry Kimball — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 15:10:01 CDT

If you think blogs are useless, think again: Scientists have developed a “hedonometer,” or happiness gauge, that analyzes personal online statements to pinpoint the overall contentment of the US population on a given day, the Discovery Channel reports. The program looks at sentences beginning with “I feel” and then grades...

Google Launches Web-Based OS, Takes Aim at Windows

Jason Farago — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 06:46:00 CDT

Google has doubled down in its battle with Microsoft. The search giant announced it is bringing out an open-source operating system, named Google Chrome OS, that looks to go head-to-head with long-dominant Windows. Chrome OS is Google's biggest push yet onto traditional Microsoft turf, reports the Financial Times , following free...