CS.HAM@r20.utexas.edu (Hamilton Richards) (08/07/87)
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The 1987 UT Year of Programming
with the support of the
U. S. Office of Naval Research
announces
THE INSTITUTE OF SPECIFICATION AND DESIGN
Scientific Director: M. J.-R. Abrial, Paris
Assistant Director: Dr. Carroll Morgan, Oxford
Austin, Texas 14-23 September 1987
The Institute addresses the problem of the specification and design of
software systems. Applications are invited for attendance at either the
tutorial or the research seminar, or for both.
Part I. Tutorial. Mon 14 - Fri 18 September
The tutorial is entirely devoted to the study of the development of
imperative sequential state-oriented programs. It is shown that predicate
calculus and set theory are by themselves largely sufficent for such
developments, and that the remaining problems are those of organisation
rather than lack of mathematical sophistication. The organisational
problems are treated using the familiar module concept in a straightforward
and unsophisticated way. The tutorial consists of
1. A review of the basic notations of predicate calculus and set theory
used to specify and reason about state. These comprise mainly set-theoretic
constructions of value spaces and state invariants as predicate-calculus
formulae.
2. A discussion of various concepts and notations used to specify and
reason about state transformations. The approach uses generalised
substitutions, a generalisation of Dijkstra's calculus of weakest
preconditions.
3. The presentation of a structuring device called the abstract machine
(or module or package) used to organise such specifications into functional
substructures.
4. A presentation of the concept of refinement of state, of state
transformations, and eventually of entire abstract machines. Principal to
this is the notion of data refinement, as developed at Manchester, Oxford
and elsewhere.
5. A number of substantial case studies illustrating the previous
topics.
Part II. Research seminar. Mon 21 - Wed 23 September
The seminar will be conducted by leading researchers in the field, who will
present their solutions to the problems addressed by the institute. It
will include reports of practical experiments as well as recent results.
The speakers will include
Prof. Cliff Jones (Manchester)
Dr. Bernhard Moller (Institut fuer Informatik, Muenich)
Dr. Tobias Nipkow (Manchester)
Prof. Michel Sintzoff (Universite Catholique de Louvain)
Prof. Richard J. Waldinger (SRI International)
Further information concerning the research seminar will be forthcoming.
ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS
Admission
Anyone wishing to enroll in the institute should send for the full
announcement, which includes an application form and information about fees.
The number of places available is limited to approximately 80. Should the
number of applicants to either component exceed 80, preference will be given
to applicants whose answers to the questionnaire (also included in this
announcement) indicate that they will derive the greatest benefits from the
Institute and will be the most likely to disseminate the benefits to others.
Secondarily, preference will be given to those who have applied for both
components.
Accommodations
The Institute on Specification and Design will be held at the historic
Driskill Hotel in Austin. Situated in downtown Austin in the entertainment
district, the Driskill combines 19th-century charm with 20th-century
amenities. Quick and frequent transportation between the hotel and the
university is provided by Austin's Armadillo Express buses.
So they may derive the greatest benefit from the institute, participants
are strongly encouraged to lodge in the same hotel with the lecturers and
with their fellow participants.
Fees
Discounted fees are available for participants from academia and government
agencies: university faculty members and employees of US government agencies
(other than the Department of Defense) are charged 50% of the standard rate;
students and postdoctoral fellows are charged 25%. For employees of the
Year of Programming's sponsors (US Department of Defense, Lockheed/Austin,
and The University of Texas at Austin), the registration fee is waived
entirely.
A limited number of no-fee admissions will be available, on a stand-by
basis, for students who make a definite commitment to helping out
with the Institute's administration.
Selection and Notification
The selection process will begin on 15 August, and will continue until all
places have been filled. A waiting list will be maintained for any
qualified applicants for whom places are not immediately available.
Applicants will be notified by express mail, net mail, or telephone as soon
as they have been accepted either for immediate admission or for the waiting
list. In addition, a paper invoice will be sent on request to each accepted
applicant. An accepted applicant will be expected to remit his or her
tuition payment within 10 days of receipt of an invoice or by 7 September,
whichever is earlier. An applicant whose payment is not received in time
may lose his or her place to someone on the waiting list.
Withdrawals
An accepted applicant may withdraw at any time before 14 September. Any
fees that have been paid will be refunded provided that the YoP office can
find a replacement (the sooner we are advised of a withdrawal, the more
likely we are to succeed in finding a replacement).
THE U. T. YEAR OF PROGRAMMING
The Institute on Declarative Programming is the sixth in a series of
Programming Institutes comprising the 1987 U. T. Year of Programming, which
is underwritten principally by the U.S. Office of Naval Research, with
supplementary funding from the University of Texas, Lockheed/Austin, and
other sponsors. The other Institutes in the series are:
Concurrent Programming (23 February - 6 March)
C.A.R. Hoare (Texas and Oxford)
Encapsulation, Modularization, and Reusability (1-10 April)
D. Gries (Cornell)
Logical Foundations of Functional Programming (8-12 June)
G. Huet (INRIA)
Hardware Specification and Verification (8-17 July)
M.J.C. Gordon (Cambridge) and W. A. Hunt (Texas)
Declarative Programming (24-29 August) D. A. Turner (Kent)
Formal Development of Programs and Proofs (26-30 October)
E.W. Dijkstra (Texas)
For Further Information
To receive announcements for any of the other Programming Institutes or for
their proceedings (text or videotape), please contact the Year of
Programming Office at one of the following addresses:
U. T. Year of Programming INTERNET: cs.ham@R20.UTEXAS.EDU
Department of Computer Sciences or
Taylor Hall 2.124 ham@SALLY.UTEXAS.EDU
The University of Texas at Austin
Austin, Texas 78712-1188 telephone: 512-471-9526
[In case printed copies are posted:
An electronic-mail version of this announcement, including the application
form and questionnaire, will be sent upon request. In view of the
institute's imminence, all applicants who have access to electronic mail
(INTERNET, ARPANET, CSNET, BITNET, JANET, etc.) are encouraged to take
advantage of it.
]
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