Big Changes

As some of you already know, I am currently working on my MS/PhD. I came across this interesting tidbit, which is pretty neat cause it describes the graduate scene quite well...

During the 1980s things changed. Computer Science Departments had proliferated throughout the universities to meet the demand, primarily for programmers and software engineers, and the faculty assembled to teach the subjects was expected to do meaningful research. To manage the burgeoning flood of conference papers, program committees adopted a new strategy for papers in computer architecture: No more wild ideas; papers had to present quantitative results. The effect was to create a style of graduate research in computer architecture that remains the "conventional wisdom" of the community to the present day: Make a small, innovative, change to a commercially accepted design and evaluate it using standard benchmark programs. This style has stifled the exploration and publication of interesting architectural ideas that require more than a modicum of change from current practice. The practice of basing evaluations on standard benchmark codes neglects the potential benefits of architectural concepts that need a change in programming methodology to demonstrate their full benefit.

Jack B. Dennis

Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, MIT, Emeritus

Something I think ppl forget in their rush to publish...