Securities Regulators Go Big on Big Data

February 21, 2014, 5:13 PM ET

Securities Regulators Go Big on Big Data

EMILY CHASAN

Senior Editor

U.S. securities regulators are making greater use of big data, using economists and data-driven decisions to improve examinations, monitor market risks, complete stress tests and select enforcement cases. Read more of this post

Facebook WhatsApp Messaging Service Written in ‘Exotic’ Erlang Language; “It’s not a language that is taught in school”

February 24, 2014, 4:39 PM ET

Facebook WhatsApp Messaging Service Written in ‘Exotic’ Erlang

By Clint Boulton

If you can get past the jaw-dropping $19 billion Facebook Inc.FB +3.19% paid for WhatsApp, one of the interesting aspects of the company is that the engine that makes its message software purr is written in Erlang. The programming language is designed to support real-time communications for millions of concurrent users. Little known outside of telecommunications, the decades-old language boasts a feature that allows developers to alter code without shutting down the system. CIOs running their company’s mobile application efforts may want to take note. Read more of this post