Forum for Academic Software Engineering Volume 5, Number 3, Fri Jan 27 12:31:51 CST 1995 Topics: Using FASE Mailing List Another useful WWW page -- Formal Methods Position Announcement: Computer Science / Software Engineering Deadline Extended: UTexas IEEECS Nat. Programming Contest Workshops on Ada Curriculum Development CFP: 9th Annual ASEET Symposium CFP: IEEE Computer Special Issue on Neural Computing CFP: 10th Knowledge-Based Software Engineering Conference (KBSE-95) CFP: IJCAI Workshop on AI & Software Engineering A------------------------------------------------------- From: kpierce@d.umn.edu (Keith Pierce) Subject: Using FASE Mailing List Several times this week subscribers mailed directly to the fase-distrib mailing list, which causes the mail to be sent to all subscribers directly rather than being placed in a newsletter. Some subscribers have expressed their annoyance at this, and clearly prefer to be sent only the periodic newsletters. We should respect their wishes and avoid direct mailing. On the other hand the current digest format seems to have discouraged interactive dialogue about software engineering issues, such as the recent exchange about a case tool. I'd like your advice on resolving this issue. Another group, INFOSYS, has resolved it by offering two forums for exchange of information. First, they distribute a newsletter not unlike FASE, which tends to be a one-way dissemination of information. Second, they have started a listserver mailing list which automatically redistributes submissions to all subscribers, thus encouraging rapid feedback and interactive discussions. If there is sentiment for starting such a list server, I'll try to set one up (unless there are volunteers out there to do this). Please let me know what would best serve the community of software engineering educators. In the meantime, please do not mail to the distribution list directly, but send articles to fase-submit. Send your thoughts on this issue to fase@d.umn.edu, or to me directly. A------------------------------------------------------- From: hossein@aetna.unomaha.edu (Hossein Saiedian) Subject: Another useful WWW page -- Formal Methods > > From: johnson@uhics.ics.Hawaii.Edu > Subject: WWW Link to Formal Technical Review Archive > > You might want to provide a link to the WWW Formal Technical Review > Archive, which I maintain at "http://www.ics.hawaii.edu/~johnson/FTR/". The term ``Formal'' above motivated me to inform FASE readers of an equally useful WWW link at the University of Oxford that provides a comprehensive coverage as well as hyperlinks to many on-line repositories of information relevant to ``Formal Methods'' of software development. The WWW page is as follows: http://www.comlab.ox.ac.uk/archive/formal-methods.html I believe the WWW page is maintained by Professor Bowen. Hossein Saiedian, Ph.D., | Internet: hossein@unomaha.edu Dept. of Computer Science | University of Nebraska | Phone : +1 (402) 554-2849 Omaha, NE 68182, USA | Fax : +1 (402) 554-2975 A------------------------------------------------------- From: eichmann@rbse.jsc.nasa.gov (David Eichmann) Subject: Position Announcement: Computer Science / Software Engineering University of Houston-Clear Lake Computer Science / Software Engineering We invite applications for a tenure track faculty position at the Assistant Professor level beginning in the fall of 1995. Candidates should be able to teach and conduct research in theoretical computer science and software engineering and systems, however candidates from other areas may be considered. Candidates should have a Ph.D. in computer science or related field. Salary is competitive. The University of Houston-Clear Lake is a state-assisted university with more than 7,000 students, about half of whom are graduate students. The university is located adjacent to NASA's Johnson Space Center. Cooperative agreements with NASA offer opportunities for support of faculty research. Degrees are offered in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Software Engineering, and Computer Information Systems. In cooperation with Texas A&M University, a Ph.D. degree is offered in Computer Science. Applications including the names of at least three references should be sent to: Dr. Glen Houston, Chair, Division of Computing and Mathematics, UHCL, Houston, TX, 77058-1098 or to: houston@cl.uh.edu. Additional information at http://ricis.cl.uh.edu/SE/. An Equal Opportunity, Affirmative Action Employer Supporting Workplace Diversity ----------- David Eichmann Asst. Prof. / RBSE Director of R & D Web: http://ricis.cl.uh.edu/eichmann/ Software Engineering Program Phone: (713) 283-3875 University of Houston - Clear Lake fax: (713) 283-3869 Box 113, 2700 Bay Area Blvd. Email: eichmann@rbse.jsc.nasa.gov Houston, TX 77058 or: eichmann@cl.uh.edu RBSE on the Web: http://rbse.jsc.nasa.gov/eichmann/rbse.html A------------------------------------------------------- From: unbelver@bashful.cc.utexas.edu (Carlos Y. Villalpando) Subject: Deadline Extended: UTexas IEEECS Nat. Programming Contest Because there are a few spots for applications left and of numerous requests we have received, we have decided to extend the deadline to Feburary 12th and everybody will be notified the next day on the 13th. We decided to extend the deadline because of or lack of net connection for several weeks last semester. Although we had extended it already, we realized we extended the deadline over a period when many would not be at school. Several schools mailed me saying that they tried to contact me during our down time and didn't realize that mail to us worked again until too late. (they provided dates that I did not provide that agreed with our down time.) All applications will be treated equally and fairly. The quality of applications received so far will make it a lively selection process :^) On other notes, we have a WWW page under construction that should be finished soon. While under construction, it will be under the URL: http://npc.ece.utexas.edu:8000 When completed, it will be moved to URL: http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~npc/npc.html Feel free to check it out and mail comments to the maintainers. --Carlos Villalpando 1995 NPC Administrative Chair [ED: Full text of the contest description is omitted to save space. To get the complete posting, mail to me, kpierce@d.umn.edu. Or, presumably, write to the address below.] APPLICATION DEADLINE: February 17, 1994 SEND APPLICATIONS TO: apply@npc.ece.utexas.edu SEND QUESTIONS TO: answers@npc.ece.utexas.edu A------------------------------------------------------- From: parrish@cs.ua.edu (Allen Parrish) Subject: Workshops on Ada Curriculum Development Announcing two summer workshops on: ADA CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT to be held at: CLEMSON UNIVERSITY and THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA Workshop funding provided by: Defense Information Systems Agency Ada Joint Program Office Clemson University and The University of Alabama, in cooperation with the Department of Defense, are pleased to announce two workshops during the summer of 1995. These workshops will focus on the Ada programming language and incorporating Ada into the undergraduate computer science curriculum. Each workshop will provide the opportunity for 20 individuals to: (1) learn basic Ada programming; (2) explore techniques for integrating Ada into the curriculum; and (3) examine existing Ada tools and resources. Emphasis will be placed on obtaining hands-on experience during the workshop. The first workshop will be held on the campus of Clemson University, starting Sunday, June 25, and running through Friday, June 30. The second workshop will be held on the campus of The University of Alabama, running from Sunday the 9th of July through Friday, July 14. We encourage all interested individuals to apply for this workshop. A copy of the application form is found on the back of this form. Please note that funds have been provided to cover all local living expenses associated with the workshop, plus a travel stipend (not to exceed 500). For more information regarding these workshops, please contact any of the individuals listed below. Allen Parrish or David Cordes John McGregor Department of Computer Science Department of Computer Science University of Alabama Clemson University Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35487-0290 Clemson, South Carolina 29634-1906 (205) 348-6363 (phone) (803) 656-5859 (phone) (205) 348-0219 (FAX) (803) 656-0145 (FAX) parrish@cs.ua.edu or cordes@cs.ua.edu johnmc@cs.clemson.edu WORKSHOP APPLICATION Please return this form to any of the individuals listed on the opposite side. Notification of applicant admission into the summer workshops will begin on April 1, 1995. Name: _________________________________________ Title: _________________________________________ Institution: _________________________________________ Mailing Address: _________________________________________ _________________________________________ _________________________________________ _________________________________________ Phone: _________________________________________ FAX: _________________________________________ e-mail: _________________________________________ Workshop preference: ____ No preference, I can attend either workshop ____ Clemson University, June 25-30 ____ University of Alabama, July 9-14 Classify your institution : ___________________________________ (e.g. public, private, 2 or 4-year) Are you currently using Ada in your curriculum? YES NO If so, in which courses? ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ ___________________________________ Rate of your knowledge of Ada : 1 2 3 4 5 (circle one) where 1 indicates little or no knowledge and 5 indicates extensive experience Attach to this form a brief statement as to why you would like to attend this workshop, and how you feel you or your institution would benefit from it. A------------------------------------------------------- From: adanews@ajpo.sei.cmu.edu (Ada Information Clearinghouse) Subject: CFP: 9th Annual ASEET Symposium CALL FOR PAPERS 9th Annual ASEET Symposium Ada 9X Courseware and Tools: Educating Software Engineers for the 21st Century 6-9 June 1995 West Virginia University Morgantown, WV CALL FOR PAPERS that describe new techniques and tools for teaching Ada 9X and software engineering principles. Share your ideas, successes, and lessons-learned with other Ada educators by writing and presenting a paper for the 9th Annual Ada Software Engineering Education and Training (ASEET) Symposium. Authors are invited submit an extended abstract (2-5 pages) by 16 February 1995 to the Symposium Coordinator: Ada Information Clearinghouse ATTN: LT. L. Michelle Smith PO Box 1866 Falls Church, VA 22041 Phone: 703/681-2460 Email: aseet@sw-eng.falls-church.va.us Authors of accepted papers will be notified in early March 1995. Complete, camera-ready papers are due to the Symposium Coordinator by 1 April 1995. The Ada Joint Program Office (AJPO) is sponsoring the ASEET Symposium. A------------------------------------------------------- From: srimani@CS.ColoState.EDU (Pradip Srimani) Subject: CFP: IEEE Computer Special Issue on Neural Computing NOTE: For postscript versions, use the URL http://www.cs.colostate.edu/~srimani CALL FOR PAPERS Special Issue of IEEE Computer Tentative Publication Date: March 1996 Neural Computing: Theory & Practice Articial neural networks (ANN) have become a technical folk legend of late. The market is flooded with software/hardware products. While the development of ANN theory and software design are in progress, there are some other new research areas which grew up based on the realization that effectiveness of ANN based models and systems can be improved by integrating its merits with those of other emerging theories/ technologies such as Fuzzy Logic and Genetic algorithms. The purpose of this theme issue is to increase the awareness of computing community about the applicability and cost-effectiveness of neural computing, and to demonstrate the current state-of-the- art in the theory and practice of neural modeling in solving real life problems from various application domains as well as to generate new ideas. Specific areas of interest include (but are not limited to): o Applications and Case Studies in Neural Modeling. o New Hardware and Software. o Machine Learning, Pattern Recognition, Control Applications. o Vision, Speech, Neurobiology Applications. o OOP in Modeling and Simulating ANN. o Fuzzy Systems and Knowledge Based Systems. o NN Approaches to Performance Modeling and Analysis. o Soft Computing. o Experience Reports - Success and Failure Stories. Papers should emphasize results that can be potentially applied in "real world" applications; they should include evaluations through either experimentation, simulation, analysis and/or experience. Papers must be written in IEEE Computer style to be meant for a general audience not necessarily with expertise in neural computing. Please submit ten copies of your manuscript to either of the guest editors by May 30, 1995: Professor Sankar K Pal Professor Pradip K. Srimani Machine Intelligence Unit Department of Computer Science Indian Statistical Institute Colorado State University 203 Barrackpore Trunk Road Ft. Collins, CO 80523 Calcutta 700035 India Tel: (303) 491-7097 Email: sankar@isical.ernet.in Fax: (303) 491-2466 Email: srimani@CS.ColoState.Edu Instructions for submitting papers: Manuscripts must not have been previously published or currently submitted for pub- lication elsewhere. Each manuscript should be no more than 6000 words long - including all text, references (limited to 12), and illustrations (counting each figure or table as 250 words). Each copy of the manuscript should include a title page containing title, authors' names and affliations, postal and email addresses, telephone numbers and Fax numbers, a 150 - word abstract and a list of keywords identifying the central issues of the manuscript's contents. [Note: If you are willing to referee papers for this special issue, please send a note with research interest to Professor Pal or Professor Srimani.] A------------------------------------------------------- From: weltyc@sigart.acm.org (Chris Welty) Subject: CFP: 10th Knowledge-Based Software Engineering Conference (KBSE-95) PRELIMINARY CALL FOR PAPERS PANELS AND TUTORIALS The 10th Knowledge-Based Software Engineering Conference (KBSE-95) Fall, 1995 Boston, Massachusetts, USA Sponsored by: Rome Laboratory In cooperation with IEEE Pending cooperation with ACM, AAAI The Knowledge-Based Software Engineering Conference provides a forum for researchers and practitioners to discuss application of automated reasoning, knowledge representation and artificial intelligence techniques to software engineering problems. This conference focuses on specific knowledge-based techniques for constructing, representing, reasoning with, and understanding software artifacts and processes. These techniques may be fully automatic, may support, or cooperate with humans. KBSE-95 encourages contributions describing basic research, novel applications, and experience reports. Recent successful contribution topics include: applications, automating software design and synthesis, education, maintenance and evolution, process management, program understanding, requirements, reuse, security, user interfaces and human interaction, as well as validation and verification. In addition to technical papers, KBSE-95 includes tutorials, panel discussions, and project demonstrations. The location of this year's conference is in Boston, Massachusetts. Paper submission timetable (subject to revision): Paper submission May 1, 1995 Notification Mid June 1995 Camera-ready copy July 1995 Papers should not exceed 6000 words in length, with full page figures counting as 300 words. Papers will be reviewed by at least three members of the program committee using the following criteria: technical quality, clarity, appropriateness to the conference community, originality, and adequacy of references to related work. Six copies of the paper submission should be sent to the Program Chair. Call for Panels - --------------- The KBSE conferences have a history of stimulating and thought-provoking panel discussions. KBSE-95 would like to build on this tradition by starting each conference day with a panel that will get attendees to participate. If there is a KBSE-related topic that you would like to see a panel devoted to, and you are willing to organize this panel, you are strongly encouraged to submit a panel proposal. Panel proposals should consist of roughly two paragraphs describing the basic issue to be discussed and why you think it would be well suited to a panel format. A paragraph outlining each viewpoint the each panel member represents, and a tentative list of panelists should also be included. The proposal should contain the email address and phone number of a single contact, and should be sent to the panel chair by May 1, 1995. Electronic submissions are preferred. Call for Tutorials - ------------------ The KBSE conference represents many diverse and highly specialized fields, and we encourage experts in any of these to take advantage of the opportunity to present their material in full or half day sessions. Tutorials give a presenter or presenters the ability to discuss their work in far greater depth than is possible during the normal conference presentations, where time constraints often require that finer points or subtle details, which may in fact be critical to understanding the research, be left out. KBSE tutorials are typically the day before the conference, and have been effective in bringing newcomers up to speed for understanding technical discussion during the conference and in educating participants in the details of particular projects and technologies. Tutorial proposals should consist of a description of the topic, a bibliography, and the qualifications of the presenter(s). Specify the target audience and any previous knowledge/experience required, and the tutorial goals in terms of the benefit to participants. You should estimate the materials tutorial attendees will require and the cost. Please specify whether you would prefer a half day or full day format. The proposal should contain the email address and phone number of a single contact, and should be sent to the tutorial chair by May 1, 1995. Electronic submissions are preferred. General Information: Further conference information can be obtained by sending an electronic mail message to kbse-info@cs.rpi.edu, through the World-Wide Web at URL "http://sigart.acm.org/Conferences/kbse" or by writing to: Barbara Radzisz Data and Analysis Center for Software P.O. Box 120 Utica, New York Tel: (315) 336-0937 Program Chair General Chair - ------------- ------------- Dorothy Setliff Howard Reubenstein 341 Benedum Hall Mitre Corporation Department of Electrical Engineering 202 Burlington Road University of Pittsburgh Bedford MA 01730-1420 Pittsburgh PA 15261 hbr@mitre.org setliff@ee.pitt.edu FAX: (412) 624-8003 Tutorial and Panel Chair Demo Chair - ------------------------ ---------- Chris Welty Richard Piazza Computer Science Department The MITRE Corporation Vassar College Mail Stop K331 Poughkeepsie NY 12601 202 Burlington Road welty@cs.vassar.edu Bedford, MA 01730 rich@mitre.org Steering Committee: Robert Balzer (USC/ISI), Barry Boehm (USC), Dave Fisher (NIST), Cordell Green (Kestrel Institute.), Mehdi Harandi (University of Illinois), Lewis Johnson (USC/ISI), Peter Selfridge (AT&T), Mike Evangelist (Andersen Consulting), Doug White (Rome Laboratory). Program Committee: Paul Bailes (University of Queensland), Paul Bailor (AFIT), Kevin Benner (Andersen Consulting), Wolfgang Bibel (Technische Hochschule Darmstadt), Alan Bundy (University of Edinburgh), Joe Carozzoni (Rome Labs), Paul Clement (SEI), Martin Feather (USC ISI), Steve Fickas (University of Oregon), Mehdi Harandi (University of Illinois), Karen Huff (GTE Labs), Richard Jullig (Kestrel), Lewis Johnson (USC ISI), Gail Kaiser (Columbia University), Axel van Lamsweerde (Universite Catholique de Louvain), Mike Lowry (NASA Ames), Gordon Novak (University of Texas), Walt Scacchi (USC), Peter Selfridge (ATT), Doug Smith (Kestrel), Loren Terveen (ATT), Richard Waldinger (SRI), Chris Welty (Vassar), Doug White (Rome Labs), Alan Whitehurst (US Army CERL) A------------------------------------------------------- From: weltyc@cs.vassar.edu (Chris Welty) Subject: CFP: IJCAI Workshop on AI & Software Engineering The Third Workshop on AI and Software Engineering: Breaking the Toy Mold held in conjunction with The 1995 International Joint Conference on AI Palais de Congres Montreal, Quebec Canada August 20-21, 1995 Deadline for submissions: March 15, 1995 Program Committee: Chris Welty (Co-Chair), Vassar College, weltyc@cs.vassar.edu Peter G. Selfridge (Co-Chair), AT&T Bell Laboratories Alex Quilici, University of Hawaii Daniela Rosca, Old Dominion University Neil Maiden, City University of London Eric Yu, University of Toronto Up to date information about this workshop can be obtained at http://ijcai.org/ijcai-95/workshops/aise.html Call for Participation AI has a reputation for concentration on small "toy problems" and neglecting problems with a real-world scope. This fact is cited by software engineering practitioners as a reason for skepticism about AI's potential in solving real SE problems. While there are many opportunities to apply AI technology to assist understanding, developing, maintaining, and designing large software systems, there are several problems which have prevented much of the research in this area from breaking out of the "toy mold," and, consequently, from being taken seriously by practitioners. One of these problems is that many AI researchers do not have access to real data and real problems on the same scale as industry - industry software is, understandably, private, as many corporations depend on their software to make money. A related problem is that academic research often proceeds in small, "thesis-sized" chunks, which may preclude the scope necessary to understand real-world software problems. Another problem is the traditional "research then transfer" methodology, in which research culminates in some tool which is not often useful to practitioners. Colin Potts ("Software Engineering Research Revisited", IEEE Software, pp18-28, 1993) suggests that researchers who wish to be taken seriously by practitioners need to adopt an "industry as laboratory" research methodology. A third problem is the lack of a concensus on what a reasonable "result" is in the area of AI and SE and how exactly to demonstrate scalability. This workshop is the third in a series of workshops which attempt to address these problems by bringing together researchers, practitioners, and those who have begun to address "industry-sized" software problems. The previous workshops have laid the groundwork by identifying open problems in AI & SE research and beginning a frank discussion on the impediments of more substantial impact by AI on SE. The goal of this third workshop is to continue this discussion by exploring AI-based approaches to some of the real problems faced by the software industry and asking the question: how do researchers break the toy mold? We will address this question by adopting the "industry as laboratory" methodology within the workshop itself, and rather than discuss research looking for applications, we will review some existing problems in industry and from these problems identify some new paths in research. Prospective participants should submit an extended abstract of roughly five pages. We seek papers of three kinds: substantial, new research in the area of AI and SE, descriptions of real SE problems which could be amenable to an AI approach, and papers that discuss AI & SE research methodology. For all papers, we insist that the issues of scalability and usability be addressed. The Program Committee will select a smaller number of papers for presentation during the workshop, and augment the program with panels and open discussions. All papers will be available in a workshop proceedings, and we plan to publish a book from extended versions of selected papers and results from the workshop sessions. Workshop participation will be limited to 30 authors of selected papers, and all participants must register for the main conference. There will be a $50 registration fee for the workshop. Please send papers and any inquiries to Chris Welty at weltyc@cs.vassar.edu. The deadline for submissions is March 15, 1995, and all authors will be notified by April 15th. Please include keywords at the start of your paper to help classification. Electronic submissions are preferred (ascii or postscript), if you can not submit electronically you must provide four copies of your paper. Fax submissions will not be accepted. Hard copy submissions may be sent to: Chris Welty Computer Science Dept. Vassar College Poughkeepsie, NY 12601 U.S.A. ===== Christopher Welty Vassar College Computer Science Dept SIGART Information Director Poughkeepsie, NY 12601 weltyc@sigart.acm.org weltyc@cs.vassar.edu E------------------------------------------------------------------- FASE Volume 5 Number 3 Send newsletter articles to fase-submit@d.umn.edu or fase@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-owner@d.umn.edu or kpierce@d.umn.edu You can retrieve back issues by anonymous FTP from from ricis.cl.uh.edu. You can access them through WWW at URL http://ricis.cl.uh.edu/FASE/ 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 David Eichmann, FASE Archivist Asst. Prof. / RBSE Director of R & D Web: http://ricis.cl.uh.edu/eichmann/ Software Engineering Program Phone: (713) 283-3875 University of Houston - Clear Lake fax: (713) 283-3810 Box 113, 2700 Bay Area Blvd. Email: eichmann@rbse.jsc.nasa.gov Houston, TX 77058 or: eichmann@cl.uh.edu RBSE on the Web: http://rbse.jsc.nasa.gov/eichmann/rbse.html