Recently in ACM Queue Column Category

My newest article for acmQueue magazine is called Demo Data as Code: https://queue.acm.org/detail.cfm?id=3355565

This issue's column in ACMQueue Magazine is titled, "Operational Excellence in April Fools' Pranks". You can read it on the Queue app: http://queue.acm.org/app/

My new column in ACM Queue is entitled, "Four Ways to Make CS and IT Curricula More Immersive". I rant and rail against the way that CS and IT is taught today and propose 4 ways CS educators can improve the situation.

The article is free to ACM members. Non-members can purchase an annual subscription for $19.99 or a single issue for $6.99 online or through the Apple or Google stores.

I write a thrice-yearly column in acmqueue Magazine. The Dec 20 issue has my newest entry, "Are You Load Balancing Wrong?"

You can read it at this URL:

http://queue.acm.org/detail.cfm?id=3028689

acmqueue is free for ACM professional members. Non-members can purchase an annual subscription for $19.99 or a single issue for $6.99. Download the app from iTunes or Google Play, or view within your browser. More information here.

The September/October issue of ACM Queue Magazine has a column I wrote about how to search random data. In theory the best you can do is a linear search. I came up with 10 ways to do better.

http://queue.acm.org/detail.cfm?id=2984631

Computer scientists should be upset that I write these things.

The new issue of acmqueue magazine contains a preview of a chapter from our next book, the 3rd edition of TPOSANA. This issue contains a preview of a chapter from our next book, the 3rd edition of TPOSANA. The chapter is called "The Small Batches Principle". We are very excited to be able to bring you this preview and hope you find the chapter fun and educational. The book won't be out until Oct 7, 2016, so don't miss this opportunity to read it early!

ACM members can access it online for free, or a small fee gets you access to it online or via an app. Get it now!

The March/April issue of acmqueue - the magazine written for and by software engineers that leaves no corner of the development world unturned - is now available for download.

This issue contains a preview of a chapter from our next book, the 3rd edition of TPOSANA. This issue contains a preview of a chapter from our next book, the 3rd edition of TPOSANA. The chapter is called "The Small Batches Principle". We are very excited to be able to bring you this preview and hope you find the chapter fun and educational. The book won't be out until Oct 7, 2016, so don't miss this opportunity to read it early!

The bimonthly issues of acmqueue are free to ACM Professional members. (One-year subscription cost is $19.99 for non-ACM members.) You can also buy a single issue. For more information.

CACM reprinted my article in the April edition. They don't usually publish April Fools articles, but I'll consider this the appropriate place for this article.

If you subscribe to CACM, you can read the article online, PDF, Ebook. You can also read it in the original publication, ACM Queue for free.

I write a 3-times-a-year column in ACM Queue Magazine. This issue I cover 2 unrelated topics. "How Sysadmins Devalue Themselves" and "And how to track on-call coverage". Enjoy!

Q: Dear Tom, How can I devalue my work? Lately I've felt like everyone appreciates me, and, in fact, I'm overpaid and underutilized. Could you help me devalue myself at work?

A: Dear Reader, Absolutely! I know what a pain it is to lug home those big paychecks. It's so distracting to have people constantly patting you on the back. Ouch! Plus, popularity leads to dates with famous musicians and movie stars. (Just ask someone like Taylor Swift or Leonardo DiCaprio.) Who wants that kind of distraction when there's a perfectly good video game to be played?

Here are some time-tested techniques that everyone should know.

Click here to read the entire article...

Note: This article can be viewed for free, however I encourage you to subscribe to ACM Queue Magazine. ACM members can access it online for fee, or a small fee gets you access to it online or via an app.

The new edition of ACM Queue Magazine is out. My column (called "Everything Sysadmin") answers 1-2 questions per issue. This issue's questions are:

Q: Dear Tom, How can I devalue my work? Lately I've felt like everyone appreciates me, and, in fact, I'm overpaid and underutilized. Could you help me devalue myself at work?

...and...

Q: Dear Tom, We have a very simple on-call schedule, but all the substitutions needed during December make it quite complex. How should we organize it better? For example, our team has a week-long on-call schedule [Monday to Monday]. During November and December, however, there is a flurry of e-mail with people requesting to trade days to accommodate various family and holiday responsibilities. How can we manage all these trades without a zillion e-mails?

(These two questions are unrelated.)

To read my answers visit queue.acm.org. acmqueue is free for ACM professional members, and reasonably priced for everyone else. It can be read online, on iOS and Android.

Enjoy!
Tom

Update: Someone asked what this is all about. The ACM is the Association for Computing Machines, the world's largest educational and scientific computing society. I have been an ACM member since 1988. For the last 4-5 years I've been volunteering with ACM Queue by writing articles and being on the advisory board. My new column appears three times a year. The ACM has a reputation for being rather academic, but my volunteer efforts have all been with projects that bend the ACM to be more relevant to software developers and system administrators.

I write a column in ACM Queue magazine called "Everything Sysadmin" (guess where I got the idea for the name?). It appears 3 times a year.

The new issue is out and contains a column that answers 2 questions: one is "How can I devalue my work?" and the other is about scheduling substitutions for oncall schedules.

Queue is free to ACM members (use your ACM account username/password). You can purchase a 1-year subscription for $19.99 or buy a single issue for $6.99.

To read the issue online or via the Queue App (iPhone and Android), go here: http://queue.acm.org/app/landing.cfm

Q: Dear Tom: A few years ago we automated a major process in our system administration team. Now the system is impossible to debug. Nobody remembers the old manual process and the automation is beyond what any of us can understand. We feel like we've painted ourselves into a corner. Is all operations automation doomed to be this way?

Read my answer in ACM Queue magazine.

[Queue Magazine is for computer science practitioners. They asked me to write a column on operations/system administration that would suit that audience. This is the first one. You can read it free online occasionally. Subscribers never miss an issue. ACM Queue is free to ACM members, or you can subscribe for $19.99/year.]

I've started a column in ACM Queue magazine called "Everything Sysadmin" (guess where I got the idea for the name?). It will appear 3 times a year.

The first column is titled, "Automation Should Be Like Iron Man, Not Ultron".

Queue is free to ACM members (use your ACM account username/password). You can purchase a 1-year subscription for $19.99 or buy a single issue for $6.99.

To read the issue online or via the Queue App (iPhone and Android), go here: http://queue.acm.org/app/landing.cfm