In 1988 Mark Weiser of Xerox PARC coined the term "ubiquitous computing", and in 1991 he spelled out the particulars of this concept in a Scientific American article called "The Computer for the 21st Century". We discuss whether or not Weiser's vision was achieved. It's hard to argue that computers are now all around us, but it doesn't seem like they've faded into the background as Weiser hoped.

The Computer for the 21st Century

Designing Calm Technology

Toward Ubiquitous Operating Systems: Lessons from the Field

Ambient Computing Has Arrived: Here's What It Looks Like in My House

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This week we're talking about regular expressions, aka, regex. These are a favorite tool of programmers, but they also have a dark side. Do regex cause more problems than they solve? Can they be evil? We also discuss the origins of regular expressions, formal language theory, and finite automata.

Now You've Got Two Problems

XKCD: Regular Expressions

Representation of Events in Nerve Nets and Finite Automata

OWASP: ReDOS

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A continuation of our discussion about the history of Unix and its development at Bell Labs. Erik wonders why Unix became successful and which features were novel and important. Mike just wants to talk about cool pranks Group 1127 pulled off.

Unix: A History and Memoir - Brian Kernighan

The Unix Time-Sharing System

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