[comp.realtime] CALL FOR VOTES: Formation of comp.object

eberard@ajpo.sei.cmu.edu (Edward Berard) (08/26/89)

	     Call For Votes: The Formation of Comp.Object

Based on an original proposal, and over two weeks of discussion, I
would like to announce a "call for votes" on the formation of a new,
unmoderated newsgroup, i.e., "comp.object." The purpose of this group
will be to provide a forum for the discussion of issues and events
which are of interest to the object-oriented community as a whole.

Object-oriented thinking affects everything, from management practices
to the schema of the databases, from programming language selection to
in-house software development standards, and from training to personnel
selection. To attempt to keep the focus solely on the syntax and
semantics of a particular programming language is unrealistic.

COMMON INTERESTS

Many people are interested in object-oriented technology.
Object-oriented approaches have been used for communications,
information systems, real-time embedded applications, database design,
and even hardware design. Although the people implementing these
applications may have used quite a variety of different programming
languages, and an even wider variety of methodologies, they share many
common problems and concerns.

Recently, there have been questions about where to post such things as:

	- A bibliography for the latest European Conference on
	  Object-Oriented Programming (ECOOP)

	- Calls for Papers for the ever-increasing numbers of
	  conferences and meetings dedicated in whole, or in part, to
	  object-oriented topics

	- Questions about object-oriented methodologies, e.g.,
	  object-oriented requirements analysis, object-oriented
	  design, and others

	- Questions about how to document objects and classes

	- Questions about the availability of object-oriented CASE
	  tools

	- Discussions of topics of general interest to the
	  object-oriented community, e.g., interoperability,
	  object-oriented data bases, objectification, and
	  object-oriented metrics.

Comp.object will provide a forum for all these topics.

POSSIBLE TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION

The following is a partial list of topics which can be discussed on
comp.object:

	- definitions of terms and concepts
	- object-oriented domain analysis
	- object-oriented requirements analysis
	- object-oriented design
	- other object-oriented life-cycle issues, e.g.,
	  object-oriented testing 
	- object-oriented databases
	- object-oriented computer hardware
	- object-oriented metrics
	- object-oriented issues in a real-time environment
	- the impact of object-oriented technology on existing
	  standards and policies 
	- documentation techniques for object-oriented approaches
	- transitioning to an object-oriented approach
	- teaching object-oriented concepts and languages.
	- management of object-oriented technology
	- automated tools for object-oriented approaches
	- object-oriented software engineering environments
	- concurrency in an object-oriented approach
	- estimating and costing an object-oriented approach
	- reusability
	- interoperability
	- objectification

Issues such as the syntax and semantics of various object-oriented
programming languages is more appropriately addressed in the
newsgroups for these languages. However, for example, the impact of
the selection of a particular programming language for a particular
project would be an appropriate topic.

HOW TO MAKE IT HAPPEN: FOLLOWING THE RULES

This "call for votes" for comp.object is being issued on August 26,
1989, and will last for 30 (thirty) days, ending on September 25,
1989. Votes received prior to August 26, 1989, or after September 25,
1989 do not count.

(If you sent me a "vote" prior to August 26, 1989, and I did receive
almost 150 "votes," please be sure to vote again.)

************************************************************************
* Please direct all votes (for and against) to me via e-mail. I will   *
* act as the vote taker. My e-mail address is eberard@ajpo.sei.cmu.edu.*
************************************************************************

What follows are relevant excerpts from "the rules." Please read them
carefully before voting:

>  The voting period should last for at least 30 days, no matter what the
>  preliminary results of the vote are. The exact date that the voting period
>  will end should be stated in the call for votes. Only votes that arrive
>  on the vote-taker's machine prior to this date may be counted.

>  ONLY votes MAILED to the vote-taker will count. Votes posted to the net
>  for any reason (including inability to get mail to the vote-taker) and
>  proxy votes (such as having a mailing list maintainer claim a vote for
>  each member of the list) may not be counted.

>  Votes may not be transferred to other, similar proposals. A vote shall
>  count only for the EXACT proposal that it is a response to. In particular,
>  a vote for or against a newsgroup under one name shall NOT be counted as
>  a vote for or against a newsgroup with a different name or charter,
>  a different moderated/unmoderated status or (if moderated) a different
>  moderator or set of moderators.

>  Votes MUST be explicit; they should be of the form "I vote for the
>  group foo.bar as proposed" or "I vote against the group foo.bar
>  as proposed". The wording doesn't have to be exact, it just needs to
>  be unambiguous. In particular, statements of the form "I would vote
>  for this group if..." should be considered comments only and not
   counted as votes.

> The Result

> 1) At the completion of the 30 day voting period, the vote taker must post
>    the vote tally and the E-mail addresses and (if available) names of the
>    votes received to news.announce.newgroups and any other groups or mailing
>    lists to which the original call for votes was posted.

> 2) AFTER the vote result is posted, there will be a 5 day waiting period
>    during which the net will have a chance to correct any errors in
>    the voter list or the voting procedure.

> 3) AFTER the waiting period, and if there were no serious objections that
>    might invalidate the vote, and if 100 more YES/create votes are received
>    than NO/don't create, a newgroup control message may be sent out.
>    If the 100 vote margin is not met, the group should not be created.

If all goes well, comp.object may have met all necessary requirements
just before the beginning of OOPSLA '89 on October 2, 1989.

				-- Edward V. Berard
				   Berard Software Engineering, Inc.
				   18620 Mateney road
				   Germantown, Maryland 20874
				   Phone: (301) 353-9652
				   E-Mail: eberard@ajpo.sei.cmu.edu