Publications

David Alan Grier


Columns
“The Body of Knowledge” (IEEE Computer)

“The Manual Memex,” vol 53 no 1, January, 2020.
“Reflecting on CAP”, vol 53 no 2, February, 2020.
“Top Influence,” vol 53 no 3, March, 2020.
“The Outward Spiral,” vol 53 no 4, April, 2020.
“Mechanical Trust,” vol 53 no 5, May, 2020.
“An Ambassador for Neural Networks,” vol 53 no 6, June, 2020.
“A Prize, a Prediction, and a Drama,” vol 53 no 7, July, 2020.
“Pervasive Ideals,” vol 53 no 8, August, 2020.
“If Not Here, Then Where?,” vol 53 no 9, September, 2020.
“A Prize and a Prediction,” vol 53 no 10, October, 2020.
“Fellow Travelers,” vol 53 no 11, November, 2020.
“Stirring the Pot,” vol 53 no 12, December, 2020.
“Where Do We Learn to Behave Like Grownups?,” vol 54 no 1, January, 2021.
“There Is Still No Silver Bullet,” vol 54 no 2, February, 2021.
“The Engineering Mindset,” vol 54 no 3, March, 2021.
“Linking the Elements Together,” vol 54 no 4, April, 2021.
“Don’t Make Me Puke,” vol 54 no 5, May, 2021.
“Forgetting Moore’s Law,” vol 54 no 6, June, 2021.
“Value by Squares,” vol 54 no 7, July, 2021.
“For the Common Defense,” vol 54 no 8, August, 2021.
“Time and Money,” vol 54 no 9, September, 2021.
“Do We Go Viral?,” vol 54 no 10, October, 2021.
“Objects in the Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear,” vol 54 no 11, November, 2021.
“The Known World‚ and Its Successors,” vol 54 no 12, December, 2021.

“CS David” (Communications of the Chinese Computing Federation ) (in Mandarin, publication dates approximate because of translation process)

“The Permanent and the Temporary,” January 2022.
“Rethinking Our Field,” January 2021.
“Standup With My Digital Twin,” February 2021.
“Talking About Harddrives,” March 2021.
“Reminds Us What We Do: Art,” April 2021.
“The Research Conversation,” May 2021.
“The Nobel Equivalent,” June 2021.
“What’s The Problem? ,” July 2021.
“Only Largely Correct,” August 2021.
“The Problem of the Donkey,” September 2021.

“What Do We See?,” January 2020. (Response for CCF Award for writing)
“Conway’s Law,” January 2020.
“Data: when do we have enough? ,” February 2020.
“Dance with Those Whats Brung Ya” (Mandarin Title: Entertain those who escorted you to the party: Invisible Colleges) ,” March 2020.
“DevOps: Divergent Expectations,” April 2020.
“Picking Your Path: Motion Planning,” May 2020.
“More Fools We: Search,” June 2020.
“Playing the Game,” July 2020.
“Computational Thought, Computational Literacy,” August 2020.
“What Has Changed: Computer Science in the Pandemic,” September 2020.
“Test of Autonomy,” October 2020.
“Stating Things Clearly,” November 2020.
“Continuity in Development,” December 2020.

“Next Network,” January 2019.
“What do we think when we think computationally? ,” February 2019.
“Code First? Data First? ,” March 2019.
“Getting the Pictures,” April 2019.
“Assessing Quantum with a Little Help from Our Friends,” May 2019.
“Standards and the Enemy of Time,” June 2019.
“Legacies and Factories,” July 2019.
“Can We Be Healthy Digitally? ,” August 2019.
“What do we learn from theory? ,” September 2019.
“Connecting the Pieces,” October 2019.
“Paying the Cloud,” November 2019.
“Checking the Results,” December 2019.

“Deep Learning,” January 2018.
“Self-Communicating Cars,” February 2018.
“The Machine Learning of Medicine,” March 2018.
“Foundation and Future of Computer Engineering,” April 2018.
“Contracting in Cyberspace,” May 2018.
“Misunderstanding the Internet of Things,” June 2018.
“Process of Compression,” July 2018.
“The Agile Learning,” August 2018.
“The Right Foundation,” September 2018.
“Educational Systems,” October 2018.
“AI Superpower,” November 2018.
“Computing with Animals” December 2018.

“Computer & the Brain,” January 2017.
“New Industrial Revolution,” February 2017.
“Learning from Crises,” March 2017.
“Are we to be replace,” April 2017.
“In the Virtual Technology Business,” May 2017.
“Learning the Requirements,” June 2017.
“Chinese July,” July 2017.
“Scientific Disagreement,” August 2017.
“How We Do The Work,” September 2017.
“Computers and the Entrepreneurial Process,” October 2017.
“Security by Design,” November 2017.
“The Present is Weird,” December 2017.

“Automating Development,” January 2016.
“What is Software and Why Do We Care,” February 2016.
“To Program,” March 2016.
“Naming the Cloud,” April 2016.
“Engineering in an Unengineered Environment,” May 2016.
“Situational Awareness,” June 2016.
“Engineering Trust,” July 2016.
“Software Factories,” August 2016.
“Real Simulation,” September 2016.
“Zeroth Generation,” October 2016.
“High Performance Computing,” November 2016.
“Internet of the Invisible,” December 2016.

“Common Values,” January 2015.
“Rate of Return,” February 2015.
“Asking For Directions,” March 2015.
“Impatient Minds,” April 2015.
“In eCommerce We Trust,” May 2015.
“Why We Must Meet: How Programmers Interact,” June 2015.
“Debating Artificial Intelligence,” July 2015.
“Learning from Conferences,” August 2015.
“Applied Vs Theory,” September 2015.
“The Impossible Task,” October 2015.
“The Learning Machine,” November 2015.
“Libraries of the Future,” December 2015.

“A Trade Union for Software Engineers,” January 2014.
“Market Algorithms,” February 2014.
“All Things New,” March 2014.
“Layers Upon Layers,” April 2014.
“Software Engineering: Two Directions at Once,” May 2014.
“ICANN: A Question of Balance,” June 2014.
“Knowledge for Business,” July 2014.
“The Global Classroom,” August 2014.
“Really In Charge,” September 2014.
“Thinking in Parallel,” October 2014.
“Meeting Protocol, ,”November 2014.
“Ghosts in the Data,” December 2014.

“Close than we might Think,” April 2013
“Investing in the Future,” May 2013.
“Moving Ideas,” June 2013.
“Layers Upon Layers,” July 2013.
“In With The New And Out With The Old,” August 2013.
“Getting Things Right,” September 2013.
“Center of the Universe,” October 2013.
“Migrating Process,”, November 2013.
“An American looks at the Chinese National Computing Congress,” December 2013.

“The Errant Hashtag” (IEEE Computer)

“The Here and Now,” vol 46 no 1, January 2013.
“The Ethical Dimension, ” vol 46 no 2, February 2013
“Attention to Context,” vol 46 no 3, March 2013
“Equality Before the Bar,” vol 46 no 4, April 2013
“Working in Conference, ” vol 46 no 5, May 2013
“The Comfort Zone, ” vol 46 no 6, June 2013.
“Short-Term Loan,” vol 46, no 7, July 2013
“The Tenor of Our Times,” vol 46, no 8, August 2013.
“For the Common Good, ” vol 46, no 9, October 2013.
“Not Part of the Plan, ” vol 46, no 10, October 2013,
“The Trappings of Power, ” vol 46, no 11, November 2013.
“The Way We Organize Ourselves, ” vol 46, no 12, December 2013.

“Just Out of It,” vol 47, no 1, January 2014.
“Practice and Theory,” vol 47, no 2, February 2014.
“Assets to the Table,” vol 47, no 3, March 2014.
“All That Glitters Is Not Gold,” vol 47, no 4, April 2014.
“The Real Change,” vol 47, no 5, May 2014.
“Peace in Our Time,” vol 47, no 6, June 2014.
“The Half-Told Lie,” vol 47, no 7, July 2014.
“The Guest at the Feast,” vol 47, no 8, August 2014.
“The Point of Recognition,” vol 47, no 9, September 2014.
“Lying to the Future,” vol 47, no 10, October 2014.
“The External Environment,” vol 47, no 11, November 2014.
“State Secrets,” vol 47, no 12, December 2014.

“State Transitions,” vol 48, No 1, January 2015.
“The Tyranny of Geography,” vol 48, No 2, February 2015.
“Building Trust,” vol 48, No 3, March 2015.
“Accidents will happen,” vol 48, No 4, April 2015.
“The GitHub Effect,” vol 48, No 5, May 2015.
“Disruptive Computing,” vol 48, No 6, June 2015. (IEEE Award for Top Article)
“Do We Need a Software Czar?,” vol 48, No 7, July 2015.
“In Search of the Diabolical Disconnect,” vol 48, No 8 August 2015.
“Industrial Leadership,” vol 48, No 9, September 2015.
“The Voracious Discipline,” vol 48, No 10, October 2015.
“Hidden Persuaders,” vol 48, No 11, November 2015.
“Quantum Imagination,” vol 48, No 12, December 2015.

“New Cycles of Technology,” vol 49, No 1, January 2016.
“The Post-MOOC World,” vol 49, No 2, February 2016.
“Go, Stop, Go, Stop,” vol 49, No 3, March 2016.
“The Global Profession,” vol 49, No 4, April 2016.
“Technological Improvisation,” vol 49, No 5, May 2016.
“Scientific Conversation,” vol 49, No 6, June 2016.
“Aware of the Situation,” vol 49, No 7, July 2016.
“Changing Trust,” vol 49, No 8, August 2016.
“Means of Production,” vol 49, No 9, September 2016.
“Innovating for Tomorrow,” vol 49, No 10, October 2016.
“I am Not a Programmer,” vol 49, No 11, November, 2016.
“15 years to Open Source,” vol 49, No 12, December 2016.

“Local Culture Global Habits,” vol 50 No 1, January 2017.
“License to Build,” vol 50 No 2, February 2017.
“Digital Trade,” vol 50 No 3, March 2017.
“Industry 4.0,” vol 50 No 4, April 2017.
“A Russian Tragedy,” vol 50 No 5, May 2017.
“Connecting to Nigeria,” vol 50 No 7, July 2017.
“The Better Mix,” vol 50 No 8, August 2017.
“The Lingua Franca,” vol 50 No 9, September 2017.
“Bringing the Benefits Home,” vol 50 No 10, October 2017.
“Keeping the Internet Global,” vol 50 No 11, November 2017.
“A More National Technology,” vol 50 No 12, December 2017.

“Forward Slash” (With Erin Dumbacher) (IEEE Computer, 2012)

“Vision Clear,” vol 45 no 1, January 2012.
“The Internationalist,” vol 45 no 2, February, 2012.
“Free agency,” vol 45 no 3, March, 2012.
“Learning from the Best,” vol 45 no 4, April 2012.
“Teaching the Intangible,” vol 45 no 5, May, 2012.
“DIY,” vol 45 no 6, June, 2012.
“A Generation of Squatters,” vol 45 no 7, July, 2012.
“Winner Takes All,” vol 45 no 8, August, 2012.
“It’s Complicated,” vol 45 no 9, September, 2012.
“The Computer in the Mirror,” vol 45 no 10, October, 2012.
“Love the Show,” vol 45 no 11, November, 2012.
“Work/Play,” vol 45 no 12,December, 2012.

“The Known World” (IEEE Computer, 2006-2011)

“George Stibitz’s Virtues and Seymour Cray’s Cat,” vol 39 no 1, January, 2006.
“The Curve of Innovation,” February, vol 39 no 2, 2006.
“The Lay of the Land”, vol 39 no 3, March, 2006.
“Coming of Age,” vol 39 no 4, April, 2006.
“A Winter of Hope and a Spring of Despair”, vol 39 no 5, May, 2006.
“The Captured Imagination,” vol 39 no 6, June, 2006.
“Across the Great Divide”, vol 39 no 7, July, 2006.
“The Print of the Hand,” vol 39 no 8, August, 2006.
“The Empty Box,” vol 39 no 9, September, 2006.
“The Language of Bad Love,” vol 39 no 10, October, 2006.
“The Benefits of Being Different,” November, vol 39 no 11, 2006.
“Songs of Comfort and Joy,” December, vol 39 no 12, 2006.

“The Wave of the Future,” vol 40 no 1, January, 2007.
“Dirty Electricity,” vol 40 no 2, February, 2007.
“Outposts,” vol 40 no 3, March, 2007.
“The Best Deal in Town,” vol 40 no 4, April, 2007.
“Working Class Hero,” vol 40 no 5, May, 2007.
“Camino Real,” vol 40 no 6, June, 2007.
“Boundaries of Time,” vol 40 no 7, July, 2007.
“Annie and the Boys,” vol 40 no 8, August, 2007.
“Controlling the Conversation,” vol 40 no 9, September, 2007.
“Emailing from Armenia,” vol 40 no 10, October, 2007.
“Counting Beans,” vol 40 no 11, November, 2007.
“Force of Nature,” vol 40 no 12, December, 2007.

“The Public Eye,” vol 41 no 1, January, 2008.
“Derek the Rocket Scientist,” vol 41 no 2, February, 2008.
“Long John Software and the Digital Jolly Roger,” vol 41 no 3, March, 2008.
“Thinking Locally, Acting Globally,” vol 41 no 4, April, 2008.
“Know Your Audience,” vol 41 no 5, May, 2008.
“The Theosophist’s Bathroom,” vol 41 no 6, June, 2008.
“Harry and Georgie,” vol 41 no 7, July, 2008.
“Forms in the Distance,” vol 41 no 8, August, 2008.
“Click Here to Empty Trash,” vol 41 no 9, September, 2008.
“Drinking with the Dinosaurs,” vol 41 no 10, October, 2008.
“Edward Elgar’s Facebook Page,” vol 41 no 11, November, 2008.
“Evolutionary Fervor,” vol 41 no 12, December, 2008.

“Democracy in Action,” vol 42 no 1, January, 2009.
“Scanning the Horizon,” vol 42 no 2, February, 2009.
“Virtual Walls,” vol 42 no 3, March, 2009.
“Top of the News,” vol 42 no 4, April, 2009.
“Dictator and the Web Design,” vol 42 no 5, May, 2009.
“Marking the Fall of Sparrows,” vol 42 no 6, June, 2009.
“Character of Play,” vol 42 no 7, July, 2009.
“Welcome to the Family,” vol 42 no 8, August, 2009.
“Data of the Night,” vol 42 no 9, September, 2009.
“Marketplace of Ideas,” vol 42 no 10, October, 2009.
“Bad Alignment,” vol 42 no 11, November, 2009.
“Honor Among Thieves,” vol 42 no 12, December, 2009.

“Designing the Future,” vol 43 no 1, January 2010.
“Raising Barns,” vol 43 no 2, February 2010.
“Someday You Will Understand,” vol 43 no 3, March 2010.
“Utter Chaos,” vol 43 no 4, April 2010.
“The Age of Accountability,” vol 43 no 5, May 2010.
“A Question of Identity,” vol 43 no 6, June 2010.
“Sprit of Combination,” vol 43 no 7, July 2010.
“Mental Discipline,” vol 43 no 8, August 2010.
“Finding What you Want,” vol 43 no 9, September 2010.
“Curious and the Confident,” vol 43 no 10, October 2010.
“Sabotage!,” vol 43 no 11, November 2010.
“Investing in Ignorance,” vol 43 no 12, December 2010.

“Migration to the Middle,” vol 44 no 1, January 2011.
“A Terrible Idea,” vol 44 no 2, February 2011.
“The Voice of Wisdom,” vol 44 no 3, March 2011.
“Where are you From?,” vol 44 no 4, April 2011. (With Erin Dumbacher)
“Not for all Markets,” vol 44 no 5, May 2011.
“Dumb Grids and Smart Markets,” vol 44 no 6, June 2011.
“Experienced Hand,” vol 44 no 7, July 2011.
“The Chicken Bus,” vol 44 no 8, August 2011.
“Leisure Science,” vol 44 no 9, September 2011.
“Habit of Change,” vol 44 no 10, October 2011.
“Give and Take,” vol 44 no 11, November 2011.
“Uncharted Territory,” vol 44 no 12, December 2011.

“Market-Based Values” (Consumer Electronics, 2015-2021)

“Who You Are With,”, 4, No 1, 2015.
“Defining Trouble,” 4, No 2, 2015.
“What Do We Get When We Add Consumers to Electronics Engineering?,” vol 4, No 3, 2015.
“Flash of Light,” vol 4, No 4, 2015

“Making Waves,” vol 5, No 1, 2016.
“The High Fidelity and High Aspirations Market-Based Analyses,” vol 5, No: 2 2016

“Toy Engineering,” vol 6 no 1, 2017
“The Crisco Effect,” vol 6, No 2, 2017
“Put It In a Box,” Wrap It with a Bow,” vol 7 no 2, 2018.
“Full Market Security, vol 7 no 3.
“Learning From the Game,” vol 10 no 1, 2021.

“From the Editor’s Desk” (Computer, 2019)

“A Revolutionary Outlook”, vol 52 no 1, January 2019.
“Holding Us Together”, vol 52 no 2, February 2019.
“Learning to Live in an Insecure World”, vol 52 no 3, March 2019.
“The Path Across the Great Deep”, vol 52 no 4, April 2019.
“A Familiar Vision”, vol 52 no 5, May 2019.
“Exploring the Current State of Quantum Computing”, vol 52 no 6, June 2019.
“Transforming the Field”, vol 52 no 7, July 2019.
“Go/No Go”, vol 52 no 8, August 2019.
“Translational Computing: What Needs the Translation?”, vol 52 no 9, September 2019.
“A Good Party”, vol 52 no 10, October 2013.
“Towards Healthier Lifestyles”, vol 52 no 11, November 2019.
“The IEEE Computer Society and the Tools of the past”, vol 52 no 2, December 2019.

“From the Editor’s Desk” (IEEE Annals, 2004-2007)

“The Expense Report Generator,” vol 29 no 1, 2007.
“Senator Dingbat and the Summit for Innovation,” vol 29 no 2, 2007.
“Nevil Maskelyne and John Todd, Tables and Spreadsheets,” vol 29 no 3, 2007.
“The Center of History,” vol 29 no 4, 2007.

“The Small Town Legacy,” vol 28 no 1, 2006.
“Anniversaries for the End of Time,” vol 28, 2006.
“A Long Cold Winter,” Vol 28, no 3, 2006
“Memories of Flying Fish,”vol 28, no 4, 2006

“The Asahi Shimbun and Japanese Computing,” vol 27, no 1, 2005.
“Tiny Little Offices,” vol 27 no 2, 2005.
“Rebuilding a CDC 6400 in Your Basement,” vol 27 no 3. 2005.
“The Computers of the Great Plains,” vol 27 no 4, 2005.

“Twenty five years of Computer History,” vol 26 no 1, 2004
“Sham Computers,”vol 26, no 2, 2004.
“Appreciating Herman Goldstine,” vol 26, no 3, 2004.
“History and code breaking,” vol 26, no 4, 2004.

Podcasts
IEEE Computer Podcast 2006-2015 (monthly, 83 episodes)
Crowdpod 2009-2011 (biweekly, 34 episodes)
How We Manage Stuff 2015-2019(weekly, 162 episodes)
Computing Edge 2015-2019 (2 episodes/month, 94 episodes)
HWMS Audio Theatre 2019- (56 shows/episodes)

Select Articles

“Crowdsourcing and the Global Marketplace”, The Voice of Technology, 2012.

“The Inconsistent Youth of Charles Babbage, Annals Of The History Of Computing, vol 32, no 4 2010.

“Irene Stegun, The Handbook of Mathematical Functions and the Lingering Influence of the New Deal”, American Mathematical Monthly, vol 113, no 7, 2006.

“The Computer from John von Neumann to Irma S. Rambauer”, IEEE Annals Of
The History Of Computing
, vol 25 n 4, 2003.

“Predicting the Unpredictable Election”, Chance Magazine, vol 15,
No 2, 2002.

“Dr. Veblen gets a Uniform: Mathematics in the First World War”, American
Mathematical Monthly
, vol. 108, no.10, 2001.

“A Social History of Bitnet and Listserv”, IEEE Annals Of The History Of Computing, vol. 22., no. 2, 2000. (with Mary Campbell).

“Henry Wallace and the Start of Statistical Computing”, Chance, vol. 12, no. 2,1999.

“Politics, Control and Computer Networks: The Chinese Student Lobby of 1989”,
Communications Of The ACM, vol. 14, no. 5, 1998.

“Gertrude Blanch of the Math Tables Project”, IEEE Annals Of The History
Of Computing
, vol. 19, no. 4,1997.

“ENIAC, the verb ‘to Program’ and the Emergence of Digital Computers”, IEEE Annals Of The History Of Computing, vol. 18, no. 1,1996.

“Tenets, Beliefs and Emerging Paradigms,” The National Honors Report,
vol. 16, no. 3, 1995.

“Tuition Discounts in High Attrition Settings”, Forum For Honors, vol. 22,
no. 2, 1994.

“An Extended Sweep Operator for the Cross Validation of Variable Selection in
Linear Regression”, The Journal Of Simulation And Statistical
Computing
, vol. 43, 1992.

“Factors Influencing Technology Transfer: The Case of China” (with H. Zhao), Technology Transfer, vol. 16, no. 4, 1991.

“Algorithm Development for Nonstandard Least Squares Problems, Repeated
Categorical Responses with Missing Values: A Case Study”, in Statistics And Computing, North Holland, Andreas Buja and Paul Tukey, eds, 1990.

Chapters

New Technology and the Problem of Organizational Stability in Technology: Impacts, Challenges, Future, Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research, Abu Dhabi, 2016.

“Human Computation and Divided Labor, The Precursors of Modern Crowdsourcing,” Handbook of Human Computation, Springer 2013.

“Towards a Definition of Simulation”and “Early Progress in Scientific Simulation,” in From Science To Computational Science, Gabriel Gramelsberger editor, Diaphanes Press, 2011.

“CTSS: The balance of hardware and software”, in Compatible Time-Sharing, System (1961-1973), Dave Walden Editor, IEEE 2011.

“The Forest of Arden”, in The Dark Side Of Software Engineering, Jonathan Rost and Robert Glass editor, Computer Society Press.

“Dr. Veblen at Aberdeen, Mathematics, Military Applications and Mass
Production”, in Instrumental In War, History Of Warfare Vol 28, Steve
Walton, ed., Brill, 2005

“Tablemaking for the Relief of Labor” in History Of Tablemaking, Martin
Campbell-Kelly, Mary Croarken, Raymond Flood and Eleanor Robson eds.,
London, Oxford University Press, 2004.

“Human computers and their electronic counterparts”, in Using History To Teach Computer Science And Related Disciplines, Atsushi Akera and William Aspray, eds., Washington, DC,Computing Research Association, 2004,

Other
“American Meridian Plaque” 24th and G Street NW, Washington, D. C.