bertrand@eiffel.UUCP (Bertrand Meyer) (03/08/90)
THE EIFFEL CONSORTIUM
Part 1: Rationale
This message and a companion one contain an important
announcement on the evolution of Eiffel - and, we think, of
the discipline of software engineering.
The first message (this one) describes the rationale
behind the announcement.
The second message gives practical details.
BACKGROUND
There is a widespread and growing recognition that the
Eiffel programming language and environment hold the
potential for a dramatic improvement in the quality of
software being developed routinely by the industry, and in
the productivity of those who develop it.
Although Eiffel is being used worldwide by corporations
and universities for highly diverse projects, its progress
as an industry standard is still subject to concerns about
Eiffel's perceived proprietary nature. These concerns stem
from Eiffel's origin as a product from one specific company
(Interactive Software Engineering).
This situation is particularly ironic when assessed
against the excitement that Eiffel generates among most
people who have looked at it carefully, against the
enthusiasm of its users, and against Interactive's own
attitude, which long ago put the language in the public
domain and has consistently encouraged others to come up
with competitive implementations. Our position has been
stated loud and clear: although we do expect to profit from
the success of Eiffel, our primary interest is in making the
technology succeed on a broad scale. We want to be one of
the players, but not the only one. The more the merrier.
To make this commitment to diversity and competition
even more of a reality, a major customer came up with a
suggestion: creating an Eiffel Consortium - in the style
illustrated by the X Consortium, the Open Software
Foundation or X Open. We enthusiastically agreed to
participate.
Since it was first broached, the idea has been
discussed and refined through numerous private e-mail and
fax messages and is now long past the ``what if?'' stage.
The Consortium is on its way to being formed.
This message is aimed at making a wider community aware
of what we think will be a milestone in the progress of
software engineering, and to enable anyone who has not yet
been contacted to join in the initial group of consortium
founders.
CONSORTIUM ROLE
The Eiffel Consortium will be open to companies,
research institutes and educational institutions interested
in using and advancing Eiffel technology.
The Consortium will serve as a catalyst for the
widespread acceptability and long-term success of the
language, libraries, tools and method. Thanks to the
consortium, the progress of Eiffel will no longer be tied to
the success of a single company.
Another key advantage of the Consortium will be to
enable users of Eiffel, especially companies which have made
a significant investment in the technology, to exert a
significant degree of control over its evolution.
Finally, the formation of the Consortium should prove
to be the signal that many software developers are expecting
to start building what is one of the major aims of Eiffel:
an industry of efficient, reliable, reusable software
components available from many different sources. This is a
unique opportunity both for large corporations and for
smaller ventures such as consulting houses.
CONSORTIUM ACTIVITIES
The precise charter of the Consortium will be finalized
during the two planning meetings (see companion message for
details). Without anticipating on the result of these
meetings, it is not difficult to list a few likely
activities.
The Consortium may have committees on such subjects
as library standardization and language standardization.
It will collect dues from its members and will be able
to spend the money on projects of general applicability;
examples of a project with immediate applicability are a
public-domain Eiffel interpreter and a validation suite for
conforming implementations.
The Consortium could also work with official standards
bodies such as ANSI and ISO.
Finally, members will be able to make contributions to
the Consortium (such as libraries and tools) and get back
other contributions made by their fellow members.
INTERACTIVE'S CONTRIBUTION.
Although, as mentioned above, the idea did not
originate with Interactive Software Engineering, we find it
sufficiently attractive that:
1
+ We are willing to transfer the registered trademark
`Eiffel' to the Consortium.
2
+ We are also prepared to release full control of the
language evolution to the Consortium. This could take
effect as early as April 16 (at a time when the book
``Eiffel: The Language'', providing a precise
description of the standard language, will be
published by Prentice-Hall or in press).
3
+ We are considering giving to the Consortium, as part
of our initial contribution, some of the current
Eiffel Libraries, especially the Data Structure
Library, which plays a fundamental role in Eiffel
software construction.
All this, especially 2, may be viewed as a major risk
for Interactive. We have enough confidence, however, in the
maturity of the Eiffel user community (as evidenced in
particular by the quality of the discussions in
comp.lang.eiffel), and in the potential benefits outlined
above, to be ready to take this step.
Given the enthusiasm with which the draft of this
message was received when we circulated it privately, there
appears to be no obstacle in moving the idea to reality
quickly. In fact, the consortium could be operational by
April 15. Organizational details are given in the
accompanying message.
Any further comment will be welcome.
-- Bertrand Meyer
bertrand@eiffel.com
Note: Having received many interesting replies to earlier
e-mail messages, I considered posting a selection. On
further reflection, however, it does not appear fair to
quote the correspondents anonymously, and the procedure of
asking each of them for permission to quote by name is too
cumbersome. So if you sent me some initial comments and feel
they are of interest to a wider group, please post them.
-- Bertrand Meyer
bertrand@eiffel.combertrand@eiffel.UUCP (Bertrand Meyer) (03/08/90)
THE EIFFEL CONSORTIUM
Part 2: Practical details
This is the second of two companion messages on the
Eiffel Consortium.
The first message described the rationale behind the
announcement.
The present message gives the schedule and
organizational details.
Schedule
Two planning meetings are scheduled for the second part
of March, one in the US and one in Europe (see next).
We then expect Consortium to be officially launched in
the week of April 16 in Santa Barbara. (A course organized
by Interactive on techniques of Eiffel compilation is
planned during the same week.)
Planning meetings
To set the charter, organization and bylaws of the
Consortium, planning meetings will be held in March. There
will be two such meetings:
+ One in Palo Alto (California) on March 19, afternoon.
+ One in Paris on March 30, afternoon.
Having two meetings somehow complicates the logistics,
but ensures that the Europeans get their voices heard and
reflects the global nature of Eiffel usage and interest.
(Time does not allow holding a third meeting in the Far
East, but we do expect a few representatives from Australia
and/or Japan in Palo Alto.)
The agenda of these meetings is simple: establishing
the basis and modus operandi of the Eiffel Consortium
Although the meetings are by invitation only, they are
open to any organization which is seriously interested in
joining the Consortium. To get an invitation, please contact
2
Tom McCarthy
E-mail: tmc@eiffel.com
Telephone: 805-685-1006
Facsimile: 805-685-6869
Tom will be coordinating invitations for both the US and
European meetings; for more convenience, European
participants may prefer to interact with
Jean-Marc Nerson
E-mail: marc@feiffel or ...!mcvax!inria!feiffel!marc
(marc@eiffel.com will also work)
Telephone: +33-1-40 56 03 58
Facsimile: +33-1-40 56 05 81
Participants to both events will receive in advance a
detailed agenda and a set of draft bylaws, which will be
discussed and revised during the meetings.
-- Bertrand Meyer
bertrand@eiffel.com