Forum for Academic Software Engineering Volume 4, Number 8, Thu Mar 31 13:59:06 CST 1994 Topics: President Kills Software Engineering ICSE-16 Projects to teach OOA/D ACM, SIGCSE meetings in Phoenix Software Engineering and Pop Culture CFP: SRIG-ET'94 Software Engineering Education SERF'94 announcement East-West Conference on Computer Technologies in Education EW-ED'94 A------------------------------------------------------- From: Keith Pierce Subject: President Kills Software Engineering President Clinton has submitted to Congress a bill (HR040194-0023) that would prevent any university graduate or undergraduate program from including the words "software engineering" in its title. "Considering the current sad state of our computer programs," the President said, " software development is clearly still a black art, and cannot yet be called an engineering discipline". He went on to say that in the interests of truth-in advertising, Universities could not ethically advertise education that it is now impossible to deliver. While awaiting passage of the law, he has instructed NSF, DOD, DARPA, ARPA, NIH, and NEA to withhold funding from institutions that refuse to change their program's names. This is clearly a shocking blow to what we thought was a legitimate discipline. Hopefully Mary Shaw's congressional testimony, and accompanying armful of slides of the history of engineering, will sway those representatives now sitting on the fence. Unfortunately, these congresspersons are being swamped by supportive letters from disgruntled users of WordPerfect and Windows. We're clearly on the defensive. Please write to your congressional representative now, before this hysterical tide sweeps us all away and returns to teaching mathematics or COBOL or Physics or whatever we were doing before teaching software engineering. Or you can send mail directly to looflirp@white-house.gov. A------------------------------------------------------- From: lwerth@cs.utexas.edu (Laurie Werth) Subject: Re: ICSE-16 The 16th International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE-16) will be held in Sorrento, Italy on May 16-21, 1994. If you would like a copy of the advance program for the conference, please contact the ICSE-16 publicity chairs: - Genoveffa Tortora, University of Solerno (Italy) (jentor@udsab.dia.unisa.it) - Debi Brodbeck, University of California at Irvine (USA) (brodbeck@ics.uci.edu; phone 714-725-2260) or the ICSE-16 general chair: - Bruno Fadini, University of Naples Federico II (Italy) (fadini@vm.cised.unina.it) An electronic copy can also be obtained from: - Elliot Chikofsky, Northeastern University (USA) (e.chikofsky@computer.org) ICSE-17 will be held April 24-28, 1995 in Seattle, Washington, USA. The submission deadline is September 1, 1994. A------------------------------------------------------- From: J"urgen B"orstler Subject: Projects to teach OOA/D My main interests are in practical, i.e. project oriented software engineering courses. I have just finished one of these courses. All of the students in the class had some data base background. Some of them knew a bit about user interface design. All of them were trained in operation oriented thinking. I did object oriented analysis and design. It was surprisingly difficult for the students to change their way of thinking. Since all the projects had some kind of database kernel, this added to the problem. They *all* came up with a "one record at a time" solution, i.e. using a curser concept to handle the results of data base queries. Hence I am interested in informations on "good" (i.e. successful) projects to teach OOA/D. I already have a few, but I need more, especially with supporting material (proposed requirements/design/... documents etc.). -- jubo (J"urgen B"orstler) Institute of Information Processing e-mail: jubo@cs.umu.se University of Umea Fax: +46 (90) 16-6126 S-901 87 Umea, Sweden Tel: +46 (90) 16-6735 A------------------------------------------------------- From: Keith Pierce Subject: ACM, SIGCSE meetings in Phoenix Phoenix was the early March site for the 22nd Annual ACM Computer Science Conference and the 25th SIGCSE Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education. John and Laurie Werth assembled a program in which top researchers and educators discussed current trends in software engineering and the impact of these trends on how we educate budding software professionals. Software engineering educators flocked to hear keynoters Bill Curtis ("Talent, Process, and the Virtual World Called 'Real'"), Barry Boehm ("MegaProgramming"), Nancy Leveson ("High-pressure Steam Engines and Computer Software"), Mary Shaw ("Putting Engineering into Software Engineering") and Norm Gibbs, the recipient of the annual SIGCSE Award for outstanding contributions in computer science education ("Education: Past, Present, Future"). We were treated to lively and controversial discussions by Shaw, Bill Wulf, Andreas van Dam, Peter Denning and others in two panels: "Educating a New Computer Scientist" and "Software Engineering Versus Computer Science." We heard about the following trends and their impact on education: Our field is moving rapidly from a craft to a true engineering discipline; we must give students the skills to be an effective engineer: broad knowledge, creativity, critical judgement, ability to learn independently, and to communicate, as well as thorough grounding in the theoretical underpinnings of effective software construction. We need more software for application areas at the fringes of computer science, and less at the core. We should replace egocentric, systems-oriented computer science programs that emphasize compilers and operating systems with ones that give students not only the fundamentals of computing but also education in an application area. We are constructing very large software by composing large, heterogeneous components. Students must learn to become component generators and component integrators, and design for reuse. We attempt to build ever larger systems that are successful only within a systematic process. Students must learn that they can best apply their technical design skills within the context of an organizational process. Last but perhaps most important, the public more and more expects universities to produce students that can solve society's real problems. We educators must respond better to the needs of our customer, the software development industry. For example, we must teach students how to cope with constraints, conflicting requirements, programming in the large, and maintenance. Needless to say, the presenters stirred academia's waters, issuing a clarion call for radical change in how we educate the software engineers of tomorrow. A------------------------------------------------------- From: Keith Pierce Subject: Software Engineering and Pop Culture Not unlike Bilbo Baggins, we've wandered into the labyrinth of software engineering and look for a way out. We hope to stumble on magic rings: Structured Programming. Object orientation. (Gack) C++. Alas, no. We're still visible to the dragon of Bad Software. I suspect most of us look for not just magic rings and silver bullets but also --- the capstone of pop sociology --- self-esteem. We want our fellow engineers to embrace us even though we don't need thermodynamics. We want our fellow computer scientists to accept us as equals on curriculum committees. The ultimate? We want infusion in the culture: Pop journalists interviewing software engineers; screenwriters scripting us; and the Language of the Common changed by our TechnoSpeak. No hope yet for the Steves (King, Spielberg)or Oprah, but we're changing language! In his On Language column in March 6's New York Times Magazine, etymologist William Safire ponders trends in company names (Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company -> A&P -> Super Fresh; Bank of Oman Limited -> MashreqBank, for goodness sake), and credits Niklaus Wirth. I quote, without permission of course: Jed Rothwell of Cold Fusion Research Advocates in Chamberlee, Ga., has a theory for "a fad in which NamesAreRunTogetherLikeThis." He thinks it was started, or at least popularized by, Niklaus Wirth, a computer scientist and designer of programming languages. "When you tell a computer to add up your lunch bill with a 15 percent tip plus tax," Mr. Rothwell writes, "you write something like this: TOTAL = {sic} LUNCH + LUNCH * .15 {sic} + TAX." "But if you have both Federal and state or local taxes, you would have to write FEDERAL TAX, which would confuse the computer because it could discern no operator (like + or - or * or /) between the words as two variables." To lump the words together into a single variable, Wirth wrote it as FederalTax. "Many of us programmer types have been doing it that way ever since," says Mr. Rothwell, whose theory will be received with suspicion from scientists who greet cold fusion advocacy with angry shouts and great hoots. He adds, "We started calling our products FastFormatter and TaxTime; other people noticed and began imitating that style and, as they say, TheRestIsHistory. So Pascal programming style gives us TelePromptTer, MashreqBank, CompuServ. Perhaps we even begin speaking C++ --- In my worst nightmares I see carved on the portals of institutions that teach creative writing: while (words++ = thoughts++) Do you have other anecdotes where software engineering has entered pop culture? Send them in. -- Keith Pierce, Professor 327A Heller Hall Department of Computer Science Phone: 218-726-7194 University of Minnesota, Duluth FAX: 218-726-6360 Duluth, MN 55812-2496 email: kpierce@d.umn.edu A------------------------------------------------------- From: "Martin Purvis" Subject: CFP: SRIG-ET'94 Software Engineering Education First Announcement and Invitation to Participate SRIG-ET'94 Southeast Asian Regional Computer Confederation Special Regional Interest Group -- Education and Training 5th Annual Working Conference Software Engineering Education University of Otago Dunedin, New Zealand 21-24 November 1994 GOALS: The Conference is intended as a forum for discussion of research into curriculum design and the teaching of software engineering. It provides an opportunity for exchanges of ideas and to report on achievements by experts active in the field. This meeting follows the success of the previous one in Hong Kong during September 1993. The papers from the meeting will be published by IEEE Computer Society Press after the Conference. THEMES: - Formal and informal software engineering approaches and tools - CASE tool usage for the training environment - Reviews of existing delivery methods/approaches - Automated assessment tools and methodologies - Curriculum design tailored to local national practice DISCUSSION SESSIONS: Workshop sessions will be held to discuss these themes, as well as wider issues in software engineering. Applicants with appropriate expertise and interest may write to the Conference Secretariat to participate in these sessions without submitting a paper. DATES: Deadline for extended abstracts: 1 July 1994 Notification of acceptance: 1 September 1994 Early registration: 1 October 1994 CONFERENCE ORGANIZATION: CONFERENCE SECRETARIAT: Chair: Martin Purvis (NZ) SRIG-ET'94 Co-Chairs: John Hughes (Australia) Information Science Dept. S. L. Hung (Hong Kong) University of Otago Philip Sallis (NZ) Dunedin, New Zealand Phone: +64-3-479-8180 REGISTRATION: Fax: +64-3-479-8311 Regular NZ$ 295.00 Email: sriget@otago.ac.nz Students (full time) NZ$ 50.00 (An early registration discount of 20% will apply for registration packets posted to the Conference JOINT SPONSORS: Secretariat before 1 October 1994.) SEARCC, NZCS, ACS PAPER SUBMISSION: Three hard copies of extended abstracts are required by 1 July 1994. They should be written in English in Times or similar font of 12 points, and printed on one side of the page only. Final versions of accepted papers are due on 1 November 1994. They will need to be formatted according to the publisher's instructions and should be no more than 20 pages. One author of each paper is expected to present the paper at the conference. DISCUSSION SESSIONS: Workshop sessions will be held to discuss Conference themes, as well as wider issues in software engineering. The Conference Programme Committee is open to new ideas and points of view and invites the submission of proposals for additional topics to be discussed at these sessions. These proposals may be submitted by email or facsimile to the SRIG-ET'94 Conference Secretariat. The workshops will be part of the regular conference program, but the number of participants for some workshop sessions may be limited to facilitate interactive discussion. Applicants with appropriate expertise and interest may write to the Conference Secretariat to participate in these sessions without submitting a paper. The intention is for the workshops to produce substantive conclusions concerning the issues of the respective topic areas. Summaries of the discussions will be included as part of the SRIG-ET'94 Conference Proceedings published after the close of the Conference. LOCATION: The University of Otago is the oldest university in New Zealand and is celebrating its 125th anniversary. The city of Dunedin has a rich cultural heritage and offers a range sightseeing opportunities. Visitors to the Conference may also wish to take advantage of the nearby Central Otago Lakes region, which includes the picturesque city of Queenstown, or visit Milford Sound in Fiordland National Park. The SRIG-ET'94 Conference Secretariat can assist in coordinating such additional travel arrangements. ACCOMMODATION: Full board accommodation has been booked at St. Margaret's College conference facility on the University of Otago campus (conference venue). The college has recreation facilities, a reading library, and computers with e-mail connections. The room rate of NZ$ 50.00 per night includes full board, and bookings are also available for two days before or after the conference. A range of hotels in downtown Dunedin within 10 minutes of the University of Otago campus at specially discounted prices is also available. Additional details concerning accommodation may be obtained by contacting the SRIG-ET'94 Conference Secretariat. TRAVEL Discounts are available for air travel to the SRIG-ET'94 Conference within New Zealand. Please quote the following codes when making a airline reservation: Airline Code =================================== Air New Zealand DOM 2417/4 Ansett New Zealand TA 50315 ----------------------------------------------------------------- Conference Reply Form SRIG-ET'94 5th Annual Conference Software Engineering Education 21-24 November 1994 Dunedin, New Zealand [] I intend to attend the SRIG-ET'94 Conference on Software Engineering Education [] I intend to present a paper at the Conference. [] I wish to participate in the workshop sessions (Please enclose on a separate sheet your reasons for workshop participation). Last name: First name: ____________________________________________________________ Organisation: ____________________________________________________________ Adress: ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ Telephone: Fax: Email: ____________________________________________________________ Please mail a copy of this completed form to: SRIG-ET'94 Information Science Department University of Otago P.O. Box 56 Dunedin, New Zealand A------------------------------------------------------- From: Ted Baker Subject: SERF'94 announcement It was pointed out to me that I neglected to include the due date and notification date for the SERF'94 meeting. Here is a revised version of the announcment, with the additional information. CALL FOR PARTICIPATION 1994 SOFTWARE ENGINEERING RESEARCH FORUM Boca Raton, Florida, November 17-18, 1994 The forthcoming 4th annual meeting of the Software Engineering Research Forum is sponsored by a consortium of universities and corporations in the southeastern United States. SERF-94 will focus on educational program development, software engineering research, and software engineering practice among the area educational institutions, industries, and governmental agencies. Contributions are solicited that describe the results of investigations for any of the suggested topics. The conference is open to all who have an interest in software engineering, including professionals, students and researchers, either from industry, government, or academia. Theme for SERF-94 is Software Quality and Reliability. Papers, Panel Sessions, Experience Reports, and Poster Session Proposals are invited for the conference. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to: Software Quality and Reliability Practical Experiences in Software Engineering Software Development and Maintenance Software Measurement and Modeling Real-Time Parallel Processing CASE Tools Object Orientation Software Engineering Methods Distributed Systems Design Software Process Assessment Quality Assessment and Measurement Certification of Software Management Information Systems Software Engineering Curriculum and Training Emerging Reuse Technology Business/Academic Cooperative Retraining For further information, contact GENERAL CO-CHAIRS PROGRAM CO-CHAIRS Ted Baker Frank Van Langen Ratan Guha Computer Science Grumman Melbourne Computer. Science Florida State Univ. C01-222, PoBox 9650 Univ. of Central Florida Tallahassee, FL 32306 Melbourne, Orlando, FL 32816 (904)644-5452 FL 32902-9650 (407)823-2341 Fax. (904)644-0058 (407)951-5029 Fax.(407)823-5419 baker@cs.fsu.edu guha@cs.ucf.edu PROGRAM COMMITTEE (initial listing) Frank Anger, U.W.F., Don Bailes, E.T.S.U., Paul Cheney, U.S.F., Marie Creque, Lockheed Aeronautical, Art Crummer, U.F., Melody Eidbo, G.I.T., Chuck Engle, F.I.T., Bob Halstead, G.M.S.D., Thomas Horton, F.A.U., Taghi Khoshgoftaar, F.A.U., Arun Lakhotia, U.S.L.,Sheau Lang, U.C.F., Roy Levow, F.A.U., Nancy Lorie, G.D.S., John Munson, U.W.F., Dick Newman, F.I.T., Rita Rodriguez, U.W.F., Sara Stoecklin, F.A.M.U., Gary Trio, G.M.S.D., Stephen Yau, U.F. FIVE (5) copies in English of extended abstracts for papers, poster sessions, tutorials, panel proposals, or experience reports should be submitted to the Program Co-Chair, Ratan K. Guha, by the date shown below. All submissions should be typed double spaced on 8.5" by 11" paper. Papers should be described by a 3-6 page double spaced extended abstract. A cover page must include title, descriptive keywords, all author's names, complete mailing address, telephone numbers, and e-mail addresses, if possible. The first page of the extended abstract should have the paper title and the beginning of the text of the document. If the paper is accepted, one of the authors is expected to present the paper at SERF-94. Accepted papers will be published in the Forum proceedings. Tutorial Sessions should be described by a 1-3 page proposal including a title and outline. Panel Proposals should include the title, proposed chair, tentative panelists (including a short vita), and a 2 or 3 paragraph description of the subject of the panel discussion, together with a statement or rationale for the panel. Panelists must have agreed to participate prior to the submission of the panel proposal. Short Papers and Experience Reports are intended to provide exposure to practical experience and current research in the application of software engineering theory and/or methodology. Contributors should submit a 1-6 page extended abstract clearly identified as current research or experience. The evaluation criteria for these submissions will be based on the relevance of the results to future work in the area. There will be a preview session and a reception will be held during the demonstration session.. IMPORTANT DATES: Abstracts & Proposals Due ... June 6 Acceptance Notification .... July 25 Final Papers Due .......... Sept. 26 SERF-94 ..................... Nov. 17-18 A------------------------------------------------------- From: ewinfo@icsti.msk.su (East-West Information Service) Subject: East-West Conference on Computer Technologies in Education EW-ED'94 file: EW94 topics: EDU EW-ED'94: Third East-West Conference on Computer Technologies in Education 19th-23rd Sept. 1994, Yalta, Crimea, Ukraine. Main directions are Educational Hypermedia and Multimedia; Telecommunication and Education; Artificial Intelligence in Education; Cognitive and Environmental Principles of Verbal Communication; Social, Psychological and Cultural Aspects of Learning; Deadlines: Papers - 1st April 1994, posters - 1st May 1994. Send EXTENDED abstract of up to 2000 words by e-mail to edtech@icsti.msk.su or by s-mail to Dr Svetlana Dikareva, Computer Center, Simferopol State University Yaltinskaya, 4, Simferopol, Crimea, Ukraine Send queries to Dr. Peter Brusilovsky plb@plb.icsti.su ATTENTION: An updated version of CFP is available now at ewinfo server. The new features are: - Announcement of the prizes for best papers in the three streams: Educational Hypermedia and Multimedia; Telecommunication and Education; Artificial Intelligence in Education. The prizes are provided by AACE, a co-sponsor of the conference - Extended PC and OC - Announcement invited speakers - The size of camera ready papers is announced -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ewinfo - E-mail server of xUSSR and E.Europe Sci-Tech information: Conferences, publications, etc. To get help send empty message to ewinfo@icsti.msk.su To receive a file send to ewinfo@icsti.msk.su command: SEND EW94 E------------------------------------------------------------------- FASE Volume 4 Number 8 Send newsletter articles to fase-submit@d.umn.edu Send requests to add, delete, or modify a subscription to fase-request@d.umn.edu Send problem reports, returned mail, or other correspondence about this newsletter to fase@d.umn.edu or kpierce@d.umn.edu Keith Pierce, Editor Laurie Werth, Advisory Committee Department of Computer Science Dept. of Computer Science University of Minnesota, Duluth Taylor Hall 2.124 Duluth, MN 55812-2496 University of Texas at Austin Telephone: (218) 726-7194 Austin, Texas 78712 Fax: (218) 726-6360 Telephone: (512) 471-9535 Email: kpierce@d.umn.edu Fax: (512)471-8885 Email: lwerth@cs.utexas.edu