[cap-talk] Horton at HotSec '07: How broadly object/capability?

[Jonathan S. Shapiro]

On Tue, 2007-07-10 at 00:03 +0000, Karp, Alan H wrote:
> MarcS wrote in response to Shap:
> > 
> > While I wouldn't put it in all caps, I agree with jonathan that the
> > implementation details should remain. The code is exquisitely laid out
> > in this paper. Some of the readers, like some of the 
> > reviewers, will be
> > put off by it. But others will find it a profound and rewarding
> > experience. Better to knock the socks off half the audience 
> > than to get
> > a ho-hum from the entire audience.
> > 
> It depends on the level of expertise of the audience.  The most
> important thing to communicate is why the problem you're solving is
> interesting.  Experts in the field will know the answer, so you can give
> this part short shrift if you're speaking to such an audience.  I don't
> believe that's the case here.  Yes, many of them will have heard of
> capabilities, but I doubt that more than a few have ever put any serious
> time into thinking about them.  Unless MarkM learns otherwise from
> someone on the program committee, I think he should target the great
> unwashed.

Alan: HotSec is being modeled after HotNets and HotOS. The audience
definitely will NOT consist of the great unwashed.

MarcS: I think the reason the to keep the implementation details in the
paper is that it gives everyone something concrete that they can see. I
would not recommend walking through it in the talk, but having it there
in the paper for people to puzzle through is a service.

> The next most important thing to get across is the insight you've
> brought to the solution.  In other words, explain why nobody solved this
> problem years ago.  Here the same explanation can satisfy experts and
> non-experts.  For this part, I think getting the concepts across is more
> important than providing all the details.  This part of the talk is
> where I think precision often gets in the way of clarity.

Definitely.

> ...That makes the motivation critical.

I agree, but I think that simply reordering the introduction will
largely solve the problem of making the motivation clear.
-- 
Jonathan S. Shapiro, Ph.D.
Managing Director
The EROS Group, LLC