Stories by: Naomi Hamilton

Computerworld is undertaking a series of investigations into the most widely-used programming languages. Previously we have spoken to Alfred v. Aho of AWK fame, S. Tucker Taft on the Ada 1995 and 2005 revisions, Microsoft about its server-side script engine ASP, and Chet Ramey about his experience maintaining Bash. We have also spoken to Charles H. Moore about Forth. In this interview, we chat to Bjarne Stroustrup of C++ fame about the design and development of C++, garbage collection and the role of facial hair in successful programming languages.

Intel is embracing the trend to virtualise across a broad range of business facets, from security to multiple core CPUs. The company has teams working on hardware features to assist with virtualised environments, and is taking an open approach to the technology by partnering with major ISVs such as VMware and Microsoft, as well as open source communities.

A 21-year-old Australian is playing a key part in developing the charger unit for the XO-1 -- the laptop which is the center of the One Laptop Per Child project.

Australia's leading broadband providers Telstra, Optus and iiNet all deny limiting P2P traffic within their networks in order to increase network speeds and save costs. This comes despite a recent admission from Westnet, along with several other ISPs, that it has been using traffic controls to limit P2P traffic for the past year and will continue to do so.

Australian company Pipe Networks claims to have set a new data centre benchmark by creating a data centre in 60 days, albeit with a few extra days of clean up, all while documenting the project online through a live blog and webcam.