[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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