ukuug@ukc.ac.uk (12/01/89)
The UK UNIX systems User Group
PRELIMINARY ANNOUNCEMENT
and
CALL for PAPERS, TUTORIALS
WORK in PROGRESS and POSTER SESSIONS
UNIX - THE LEGEND EVOLVES
London, 9-13 July 1990
Preliminary Announcement
The UKUUG summer 1990 technical conference will take place
at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London on 11th-13th July,
preceded by two days of advanced tutorials beginning on Mon-
day 9th July. The three day conference offers presentations
by world renown exponents of UNIX related systems supported
by `work in progress' and `poster' sessions. A pre-
conference registration pack containing detailed information
will be issued in March 1990.
Theme and Distinguished Speakers
The UNIX kernel has evolved over a 20 year period during
which Brian Kernighan coined the name UNIX, popularised the
tools philosophy, and with co-author Rob Pike, wrote a
definitive book `The UNIX Programming Environment.'
Throughout this era, the UNIX system has acquired legendary
status whilst exploding in coverage and geographic distribu-
tion, and bestowing great honour and world-wide recognition
upon Ken Thompson, one of its principal architects. Research
continues at Bell Labs influenced by the Cambridge Distri-
buted Computing System.
Brian Kernighan will speak upon the progress which has been
made in the development of programming environments,
languages, tools and even `methodologies', discussing how
past experiences will influence their future evolution. Ken
Thompson, Rob Pike and Dave Presotto have been conducting
research into a successor to UNIX entitled `Plan 9 from Bell
Labs.' The result is a novel and innovative distributed
system which runs counter to the popular trend in computing
environments, namely workstations connected by local area
networks. Each will speak on his contribution to the propo-
sal of a new system based on clusters of file servers and
execute servers connected by high speed networks.
Other noteworthy presenters include Jon Bentley, author of
`Programming Pearls' and a column in CACM; Doug Comer,
designer of the XINU system; Piers Dick-Lauder, creator of
the `Share Scheduler' along with Dennis Ritchie; Stu Feld-
man, the inventor of make who wrote the f77 Fortran compiler
single handedly; James Gosling, originator of the visual
editor emacs and a NeWS & X enthusiast; Mike Karels and Kirk
McKusick, principal investigators of 4.3 BSD; and the prol-
ific author Andy Tanenbaum, creator of the MINIX system.
Call for Papers
Technical papers are sought in all areas of UNIX related
research and development, which includes work associated
with programming languages like C and C++. Accepted papers
will be published in the conference proceedings and
presented during the three days of technical sessions.
Of particular interest, but not confined to this area alone,
are new and interesting submissions about distributed
environments: file systems, data bases, execution and load
balancing, kernels, windowing systems, etc. Also welcome are
papers concerning tools, `little languages', networks, secu-
rity, system administration and standards.
Method of Submission and Important Dates
Extended abstracts of between two and four pages in length
are invited describing the nature of the work along with a
summary of results and conclusions. All abstracts must be
submitted to the Programme Director who is willing to pro-
vide advice to potential speakers. High quality original
work will be regarded much more favourably than re-runs of
previous papers. Submissions from students are encouraged
and will be particularly favoured.
o Receipt of Extended Abstracts: Friday 26th January 1990
o Acceptance Notifications Posted: Wednesday 31st January
1990
o Final Paper Due for Proceedings: Friday 6th April 1990
Solicitation for Other Contributions
One day, advanced tutorials play an important role in
UKUUG's activities and so experts are encouraged to discuss
topics and subject matter with the Programme Director. For
the first time at a UKUUG conference, a `work in progress'
session will be held where 10-15 minute slots are on offer,
with priority being given to reports of student project and
research activity. For those preferring one-to-one contact,
`poster' sessions are available in the terminal room next to
the auditorium for technical sessions.
Addresses and Venue
o Programme Director: Sunil K Das, City University London,
Computer Science Department, Northampton Square, EC1V
0HB, UK. (01) 253-4399 x3725 sunil@cs.city.ac.uk
o Conference Director: Mick Farmer, Birkbeck College Com-
puter Science Department, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HX,
UK. (01) 631-6351 mick@cs.bbk.ac.uk
o Finance Director: Zdrav Podolski, Insignia Solutions
Ltd, Carrington House, Oxford Road, High Wycombe, Bucks
HP11 2EG, UK. (0494) 459426 zdrav@insignia.co.uk
o Business Manager: UKUUG, Owles Hall, Owles Lane, Bunt-
ingford, Herts SG9 9PL, UK. (0763) 73039 ukuug@ukc.ac.uk
UKUUG is affiliated with the European UNIX systems User
Group.
o Venue: The Nine Kings Suite, Royal Lancaster Hotel, Lan-
caster Terrace, London W2 2TY, UK. (01) 262-6737
The hotel is centrally located facing Kensington Gardens and
Hyde Park, within five minutes of Paddington Station. The
House of Lancaster is commonly used to describe the line of
English Kings immediately descended from John of Gaunt
(1340-1399), fourth son of Edward III, which started in 1362
when he was created Duke of Lancaster. His three marriages
to Blanche, Constance and Catherine produced a line of nine
kings.
About the UKUUG
The UK UNIX systems User Group is the only British body
affiliated with the European UNIX systems User Group, the
umbrella organisation to the National Groups existing in
many European countries. EUUG is comprised primarily of
institutional and individual members of affiliated national
groups. There are, at present, 16 National Groups with a
total membership of approximately 4000. The advantage of
such a structure is that UKUUG members can accrue the bene-
fits of UK activities (for example, permission to connect to
UKnet, part of the world-wide UNIX computer network) as well
as the services provided by EUUG.
The UKUUG membership is drawn from the information technol-
ogy, commercial and research/academic sectors in equal pro-
portions. The membership demonstrates diverse skills which
facilitates working with, for example, software engineers,
computer manufacturers or end-users, who might be employed
by software houses, universities or research centres. There
exist a wide range of backgrounds. They all share the fact
that they are UNIX users, whether they develop kernel modif-
ications, build applications and software tools, are
involved in teaching and research, use the system in a turn-
key environment, or any other sphere of interest. The UKUUG
is unique in catering for the needs of users while being
completely independent from specific hardware manufacturers
and software vendors. In order to maintain this indepen-
dence, the UKUUG is funded entirely from membership sub-
scriptions. Needless to say, all major suppliers of UNIX
and UNIX-related systems are members. Members of UKUUG are
especially active in UK and European standards bodies such
as the British Standards Institute (BSI) and the Interna-
tional Standards Organisation.
Services provided by UKUUG and EUUG include: conferences;
workshops; newsletters; technical journals; software distri-
butions; catalogues; UKnet and EUnet, the British and Euro-
pean branches of the world-wide UNIX computer network;
external relations, with international standards groups,
other world-wide user groups, and the press in all countries
where UNIX licences exist; and accounting and administrative
functions through their respective Secretariats.
A membership application form together with a comprehensive
information pack is available from the UKUUG, Owles Hall,
Owles Lane, Buntingford, Herts SG9 9PL, UK. (0763) 73039
ukuug@ukc.ac.uk Future UKUUG policy is to introduce a stu-
dent membership scheme.
--
Good health is merely the slowest rate at which one can die.