Conference
Pioneering Software in the 1960s in Germany, The Netherlands, and Belgium
Date: 2-4 November 2006
Site: CWI (Amsterdam)
Organizers: Gerard Alberts (UvA Amsterdam), Paul Klint (CWI, Amsterdam),
Wilfried Brauer (TU München), Arjan van Dijk (NGI), Ulf Hashagen
(MZWTG/Deutsches Museum), Hans Dieter Hellige (Universität Bremen), Jacques
VandenBulcke (SAI/Universiteit Leuven), John Impagliazzo (IFIP)
Supporting Organizations:
Societies: GI, NGI, SAI, IFIP Working Group 9.7 „History of Computing“
Universities and Research Institutes: CWI, Deutsches Museum/MZWTG, TU München
Financial support by CWI, NWO-EW, and Ernst-Denert-Stiftung für
Software-Engineering
Moderators:
Michael S. Mahoney (Princeton University)
Wilfried Brauer (TU München)
Abstract:
Software, today, is the ubiquitous support of everyday practice. The early
beginnings of software, however, are half a century old. From the coding of
the early machines in the 1950s gradually rose the writing of software as an
autonomous practice. By 1960 the main areas of research and industrial
innovation were operating systems, programming languages and construction of
compilers. In the following years the software field developed its own
tools, techniques and methodologies. The foundation of software houses
signified the emergence of software as an economic activity. The development
of software showed its growing pains, from late deliveries, to not meeting
specifications, and to straightforward accidents. By the end of the 1960s
some perceived the field as being in a crisis, others saw new challenges.
The famous Garmisch-Partenkirchen Conference in 1968 marked the
self-conscious start of a new discipline called software engineering.
European countries followed their own paths in these early developments of
software. Their academics tended to choose the niche of theoretical
research, symbolized by abstract reflection on the design of languages.
Simultanuously university research teams filled the gap of the absent
software departments in the European computer industries, delivering
compilers and contributing to operating systems. Germany, The Netherlands
and Belgium shared this paradox characteristic of the pioneering age of
software.
Topics:
Designing programming languages
Construction of compilers and operating systems
The rise of the software branch: software-houses and application software
Software tools, techniques and methodologies: towards software engineering
in industry and academy
Conference fee for non speaking participants € 100
http://www.cwi.nl/events/2006/pioneer
Program
Thursday, November 2nd, 15:30 – 19:00
chair Wilfried Brauer
15:30 Paul Klint (CWI Amsterdam), opening remarks on the
history of software engineering
Designing Languages
15:50 Hartmut Petzold (München), Nikolaus Joachim Lehmann
from Dresden
and the international ALGOL project
16:30 Gerard Alberts (Amsterdam), Van Wijngaarden and ALGOL 68
coffee break 17:10 -17:30
17:30 Albert Endres (Sindelfingen), Early language design and
compiler development
at IBM Europe; a personal retrospect
18:10 discussion opened by
Helena Durnova (Brno), comments on languages and the
ALGOL effort
conference dinner 19:30, restaurant De Kas, separate fee
Friday, November 3rd
Morning, 9:00 – 13:00
chair Michael S. Mahoney
Compilers, and operating systems in academic-industrial cooperation
09:00 Hans Langmaack (Kiel), Compiler construction as an
academic enterprise
in the ALCOR-Group
09:40 Frans Kruseman Aretz (Eindhoven), Progress in ALGOL 60
implementation:
two successive MC-systems compared
10:20 discussion opened by
Gerhard Goos (Karlsruhe), comments on compiler
construction
coffee break 10:50 -11:10
11:10 Hans-R Wiehle (München), Operating Systems at Telefunken
11:50 Adrienne van den Bogaard (Delft), Dijkstra and the THE
operating system
12:30 discussion opened by
Klaus-Peter Löhr (Berlin), comments on operating systems
lunch 13:00
siesta or museum visit
Afternoon, 15:00 – 19:00
chair Wilfried Brauer
The rise of the software industry
15:00 Jan Mol (Amsterdam), Volmac
15:40 Timo Leimbach (München), The creation and rise of the
German software industry:
some remarks and case studies
coffee break 16:20 -17:00
17:00 Jacques Loeckx (Köln), Computer design and software
development in Belgium
before 1970; a personal retrospect
17:40 Sandra Mols (Manchester), The beginnings of the Belgian
software industry
18:30 discussion
Saturday, November 4th
Morning, 9:00 – 13:00
chair Michael S. Mahoney
Software tools, techniques and methodologies:
towards software engineering
in industry and academy
09:00 Jan Berghuis (Bennekom), Project management, systems
management
09:40 Willem van der Poel (Delft), The Zebraclub
10:20 discussion
coffee break 10:40 -11:00
11:00 Maurice Verhelst (Leuven), Decision tables, past and
present
11:40 Hans-Dieter Hellige (Bremen), Software Engineering
approaches before the notion
12:20 discussion
lunch 13:00
