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Ask HN: What are your favorite scholarly papers? Why?
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Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite scholarly papers? Why?
#2The papers published on the Google File System (GFS) and Map Reduce are still some of my all time favorite papers. It gives really good inside into how GFS/Map Reduce was built, but explains it in a very straight forward way. We actually implemented an in memory version of GFS/MapReduce in my graduate operating systems class. It remains as one of my favorite projects I've ever done.
Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite scholarly papers? Why?
#3In the vain of generally appreciated papers, I really like "Whitesides' Group: Writing a Paper" by George Whitesides[0][1]. It gives a strategy for collaborating research based on using a paper as a living document. It seems like a lot of work, but it saves untold days in the long run. This is the first paper I give anyone I mentor.
There have been derivative works on giving presentations, that I also particularly like: Editorial: Effective Presentations—A Must. [2]
[0] In case you don't know of him: he is the most cited living chemist, or something to this effect
[1] http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adma.200400767/ab...
[2] http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/anie.201209795/ab...
Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite scholarly papers? Why?
#4Optimistic Replication - YASUSHI SAITO & MARC SHAPIRO, 2005
http://pagesperso-systeme.lip6.fr/Marc.Shapiro/papers/Optimi...
Why: RPC and its ilk make a lousy model for mobile data, since mobile devices are only occasionally connected, not permanently. Similarly, in the face network and server failures, servers can be modeled as occasionally connected as well. The "replication" mindset is far more productive when dealing with those issues. The linked paper gives a broad overview of a great number of approaches to replication, and is a great way to get the lay of the land.
Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite scholarly papers? Why?
#5"Suppose it is the 1890s. Artificial flight is the
glamor subject in science, engineering, and venture
capital circles." -Intelligence without representation by Rodney Brooks http://people.csail.mit.edu/brooks/papers/representation.pdf
It's accessible, and it's a good intro to thinking about AI. The field oughta be called even more nifty algorithms.
Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite scholarly papers? Why?
#6[deleted]
Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite scholarly papers? Why?
#7Claude Shannon 1948, "A Mathematical Theory of Communication"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Mathematical_Theory_of_Commun...
This paper kickstarted the concept of information theory, and was hugely influential on many fields of research. Signal-to-noise ratio, the bit, information entropy, etc. are all theories and concepts presented by Shannon.
Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite scholarly papers? Why?
#8Stephen Jay Gould and Richard C. Lewontin, 1979 "The spandrels of San Marco and the Panglossian paradigm: a critique of the adaptationist programme"
Some biologists may cringe (especially the Gould haters), but I don't think I've ever been so engrossed by any other scholarly paper. It is a joy to read. Very approachable for non-biologists. The papers critique of sloppy "just so" reasoning, could easily be extended to Data Scientists/Engineers/Entrepreneurs. Highly recommend!
Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite scholarly papers? Why?
#9William P. Thurston 1994, "On proof and progress in mathematics"
Gives a good amount of insight into how academia works for mathematics, and gives a good contrast with how CS works. Don't be scared by the abstract, it's a completely non-technical paper. The academic/research culture can be more important than the results.
Re: Ask HN: What are your favorite scholarly papers? Why?
#10Claude Shannon 1948, "A Mathematical Theory of Communication" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Mathematical_Theory_of_Commun... This paper kickstarted the concept of information theory, and was hugely influential on many fields of research. Signal-to-noise ratio, the bit, information entropy, etc. are all theories and concepts presented by Shannon.
Wow you beat me to it! This paper affected my college major, my career in my twenties, and my current career. Such an important paper, although, I must admit, it is not easy to decipher at first.