Computer Science Controversy

[Cheshire_Cat]

Hello everyone,

 

I need to write a research paper and choose an important issue (preferably related to the world of technology and computers) with controversy surrounding it. I would have to be able to find a variety of credible sources (explaining the issue, range of opinions, etc.) to support my paper.

 

Any ideas anyone?

 

Regards,

Cheshire Cat

[eruheru]

you can do something about os wars (microsoft vs mac vs linux)

[Klaynos]

Opensource vs Closed source

 

SCO vs anyone they think they can sue (google for sco ibm)

 

Pretty much anything about the government of x country wanting to control the internet or view logs of what people have been viewing etc...

[Cheshire_Cat]

Hello!

 

Eruheru, I was thinking about these "holy wars" too. I've never really used Mac or Linux, so can't say much about them. Doesn't this debate pretty much revolve around one's personal preference or I can find sources of objective independent arguments on this topic?

 

Klaynos, thanks for the ideas. Seems like Open Source VS Closed Source is a very sore spot - a lot of people write about it... I guess the info about the different governments can be found just in the news (nobody wrote a book about it yet, did they?). I think I can structure my paper based on the government's laws/policites and people's rights.

 

Any more suggestions?

 

Thanks,

Cheshire_Cat

[bascule]

I think one of the oldest debates in the book is that of the Fortran/Algol-derived imperative languages vs. the Lisp-derived functional languages.

 

In the end I think most people agree that functional languages are, overall, better, while imperative languages are more practical because they're easier to learn.

 

That said, we're finally starting to see something of a fusion of the two in languages like Ruby and Python.

[Guv]

What about programming singularity?

[the tree]

Way too esoteric, and really only a bunch of hypothesis, nothing material to go on.

[Guv]

I was talking more along the lines of the initial intigration between us and technology that started when we started wearing watches, cell phones and soon computers. How do we take advantage of this and program the software we will might use could be an interesting study.

[Cloud]

What about Microsoft trying to buy out java (sun microsystems) ?

(Actually - did that even happen? -

I can't remember if that was reality or one of those wacky fun-filled dreams I usually have)