[Apologies if you receive multiple copies of this announcement]
BCS-FACS Evening Seminar Series
The Three Amigos: or why 'There is more to specifying systems that
connect to the physical world' than they admit
Professor Tom Maibaum
McMaster University, Canada
7 June 2006
6pm start
BCS London Offices
First Floor,
The Davidson Building
5 Southampton Street
London WC2E 7HA
In Cliff Jones's BCS FACS talk on 24 April on joint work with Ian Hayes
and Michael jackson
[see
http://www.bcs-facs.org/events/EveningSeminars/cliff_jones_06.html],
some claims were made
about the efficacy of what was being proposed and the possibly mistaken
view of the so called
'4 variable model', about there being no need for a model of the
environment internalised in the
software, and so on. The work is also based on proposals of Michael
Jackson that require an
ab initio distinction between environment and software. I will argue
that these assumptions are
wrong, outline a different set of assumptions and adduce evidence for
these assumptions. One
important assumption will be that the ab initio distinction referred to
above cannot and should
not be made. Further, I will argue that internalising an appropriate
model of the environment
in the software is a necessity in order to control it and that
internalising in the software a
distinction between normal and abnormal behaviour is a necessary
condition for defining
fault tolerance and self management mechanisms.
Refreshments will be served from 5.30pm
The seminar is free of charge and open to everyone. If you would like to
attend, please email
Paul Boca [[log in to unmask]] your name by 4 June 2006.
Pre-registration is required, as
security at the BCS Offices is tight.
Location of the venue: http://www.bcs.org/upload/img/londonsscolour.jpg
FACS Evening Seminars: http://www.bcs-facs.org/events/EveningSeminars
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