dep@allegra.UUCP (06/27/87)
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4th INTERNATIONAL SOFTWARE PROCESS WORKSHOP
REPRESENTING AND ENACTING THE SOFTWARE PROCESS
Devon, England, 11 - 13 May 1988
(please note revised date)
(To be sponsored by ACM SigSoft and IEEE-TCSE)
ORGANIZING COMMITTEE
Gerhard Chroust Mark Dowson Watts Humphrey
Lee Osterweil Dewayne Perry Colin Tully
The 4th International Software Process Workshop will focus on
executable or interpretable ('enactable') models of the
software process, and their prescriptive application to
directly controlling software project activities. A number of
issues must be addressed if we are to develop comprehensive,
robust models, together with environment architectures that
allow their effective use. They include:
Process Structures
Generating useful prescriptive models requires a better
understanding of actual software processes. In particular:
- how can we categorize actual processes to allow the
derivation or selection of appropriate models?
- what aspects of actual processes (eg organizational,
technical) need to be modelled?
- what metrics are appropriate, for example, to
distinguish GOOD processes for modelling?
Representation Formalisms
Modelling requires model representation formalisms or
languages with suitable syntax and semantics:
- what are the requirements for a representation
formalism for prescriptive models?
- to what extent are these requirements met by existing
formalisms eg programming languages, and what are
their advantages and disadvantages?
- what new formalisms or extensions to existing
formalisms are needed?
- how can methods/methodologies be encoded as reusable
fragments of prescriptive models?
Limits to Mechanization
Formalization and automation of the software process should
support and enhance human intelligence and creativity, not
attempt to replace it:
- are there limits, in principle, to the degree to
which the process can be formalized, and if so, what
are they?
- are there limits to the degree to which it is
practical or desirable to automate the software
process?
Impact on Environments
Effective exploitation of prescriptive software process models
will require suitable, model driven environments:
- what, if any, will be the impact of this need on
future environment architectures?
- to what extent are existing environments suitable?
- can generic, model driven environments be
constructed, or will different architectures be
needed for different classes of model?
- to what degree should an environment enforce
conformance to the process prescribed by a model?
The workshop, which will be held at the Manor House Hotel,
Moretonhampstead, Devon, UK, will consist of three days'
intensive consideration of these issues by, at most, 35
participants. Prospective participants should submit a
maximum 3 page position paper by 16 October 1987, explicitly
addressing one of the workshop issues and suitable for
publication in the proceedings. A small number of
participants will be requested to prepare short keynote
presentations to initiate discussion. Position papers (6
copies or electronic mail) should be sent to:
LEON OSTERWEIL or COLIN TULLY
University of Colorado STC Technology Limited
Department of Computer Science London Road
Campus Box 430 Harlow
Boulder CO 80309, USA Essex CM17 9NA, UK
tel: 303 492 8787 tel: +44 279 29531
e-mail: lee@boulder.colorado.csnet e-mail: tully@stl.stc.co.uk
Submission of papers by electronic mail is encouraged.
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