cd@geocub.UUCP (Christophe Dony) (05/29/91)
ECOOP'91 WORKSHOP ON EXCEPTION HANDLING AND OBJECT-ORIENTED PROGRAMMING July 1991 Geneva, Switzerland FINAL CALL FOR PARTICIPATIONS ECOOP'91 will be the fifth annual european conference on object-oriented programming. This workshop will be held the first day of the conference. As object-oriented languages become more sophisticated, the problem of coping with exceptional situations occurring at run-time becomes more complex and the need for appropriate tools and language mechanisms to detect, handle and correct errors more crucial. Such tools and mechanisms help to facilitate software reliability, reusability, readability and debugging. Currently, many exception handling systems have been, or are being, integrated into object-oriented languages (C++, Clos+CommonLisp, Eiffel, Smalltalk, etc). These systems differ on many important points including: handler definition policies, knowledge representation and handling mechanisms. In addition, many different proposals and theoretical papers on the subject have been published recently in literature pertaining to object oriented systems. Finally, some of the ideas expressed in connected fields such as the management of exceptional data in data bases, information systems or user interfaces have never before been compared with research into exception handling. We feel that such a comparison would be mutually beneficial. It would thus be interesting for anyone with opinions on designing or using exception handling systems, and the relevant experience, to discuss their point of view. That is the purpose of this workshop. All following topics are relevant and could be discussed: * Proposal of new systems. * Comparisons of existing systems. * Handling policies. Should exceptions be handled at the class level, at the method level, at the instruction level? Where and how are default handlers defined? What exception propagation mechanism should be adopted? * Relationship between exception handling, software quality, modularity and reusability. How can we ensure modularity while invoking handlers? How should objects interfaces be modified so that users of object-oriented libraries be able to anticipate exceptions cases? What should be the scope (and extent) of handlers? How can exceptions improve program readability and thus potential for reuse? Is there a case for disabling exceptions when the software is released? * Failures, Object consistency. How can we maintain object consistency with a termination model? How can object consistency be ensured when both resumption and termination are allowed? Are database techniques for maintaining consistency of data relevant for object-oriented languages? * Reflection and Language Design To what extent can the use of object-oriented programming improve the expressive power of exception handling systems? Can exception mechanisms be retro-fitted into object oriented languages effectively? * Specifications Does formal specification have a role in object oriented exception mechanisms? What are the benefits and costs of behavioural exceptions (exceptions that are triggered by failure of an object to follow a behaviour pattern) as opposed to state-based exceptions (failing a test of state) ? Could exceptions be used as annotations for a behavioural (or semantic) browser? How can the definition of exception cases be combined with semantic or axiomatic specifications? * Implementation issues. Can exception mechanisms be implemented within object-oriented languages so that they do not slow down normal execution? * User experiences. * Connections between exception handling systems and debugging tools. * Exception handling and concurrent object-oriented languages. What extra difficulties does parallelism introduce? The workshop will be divided into topic-directed sessions, with significant time for questions after each presentation, and more general discussions on issues that will appear to raise a particular interest. People interested to participate are invited to submit an abstract explaining their contribution to the field and the relevance of their work to one or more of the proposed topics. An opportunity will be offered to puslish an overview of the workshop and the best abstracts in OOPS MESSENGERS. Send three copies of abstracts to: Christophe Dony Rank Xerox France & LITP, Universite Paris VI 4 place Jussieu, 75oo5 Paris (France). Phone: (33)-1-44277030. Email: chd@rxf.ibp.fr. Important dates --------------- June 15-30, 1991 : Notification of invitation or rejection. July 15-19, 1991 : Conference. July 15, 1991 : this workshop (9.00-17.00) Workshop Organizers ------------------- For further information, contact any of the workshop organizers Christophe Dony Jan A. Purchase Computer Science Dept., University College London, Gower St., London WC1E 6BT Email: J.Purchase@cs.ucl.ac.uk Tel: +44 (0)71 387 7050 x3701 Russel L. Winder, Computer Science Dept., University College London, Gower St., London WC1E 6BT Email: R.Winder@cs.ucl.ac.uk Tel: +44 (0)71 380 7293