Abandoning babies safely

First Opinion: Babies, Babies, and More Babies

Babies

This little brochure is an altogether admirable one for the expectant mother and mother. In simple language it deals with the ordinary problems of maternity from a non-technical standpoint. The expectant mother is counselled to consult her medical adviser twice during pregnancy: once within the first three months, to ward off such dangers as eclampsia, osteomalacia and the like; the second time...

Wrap Your Objects Safely

Despite the effort of researchers on distributed systems, programming languages, and security, there is still no good solution offering basic constructs for guaranteeing minimal security at the programming language level. In particular, the notion of a wrapper around an object or component controlling its interaction with the environment has not properly been addressed. This kind of “local fire...

Using Lithium Safely

It has been over 60 years since Australian psychiatrist John Cade first described lithium’s therapeutic role in manic illness. Cade’s seminal 1949 article described the impact of lithium salts in resolving “psychotic excitement” in 10 manic patients. Since this discovery, lithium has become a gold standard treatment for bipolar disorder, with evidence supporting its role in acute mania, depress...

Splitting atoms safely

The aim of this paper is to make a contribution to (compositional) development methods for concurrent programs. In particular, it takes a fresh look at a number of familiar ideas including the problem of interference. Some subtle issues of observability –including granularity– are explored. Based on these points, the paper sets out some requirements for an approach to developing systems by “spl...