>From acwf@doc.ic.ac.uk Tue Mar 8 12:48:14 1994 remote from icdoc From: Anthony Finkelstein Date: Tue, 8 Mar 94 12:48:14 GMT To: re-world@doc.ic.ac.uk Subject: REQUIREMENTS ENGINEERING NEWSLETTER (22) ****************REQUIREMENTS ENGINEERING NEWSLETTER******************** No. 22. Contents !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1. IMPORTANT: European Laboratories Without Walls (Anthony Finkelstein) !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 2. ICRE Advanced Program (Al Davis) 3. CAiSE*94 Advance Program (Sjaak Brinkkemper) 4. Requirements Engineering at ICSE 16 (Bashar Nuseibeh) 5. PRELIMINARY ANNOUNCEMENT: ICSE17 (Debra Brodbeck) 6. Doomsday 2000 - ComputerWorld Article (Peter de Jager) 7. Baltic DB'94 invitation (Janis Bubenko) If you have questions about particular items appearing in the newsletter - send them to the originators. If you wish to contribute send your material to: re-list@doc.ic.ac.uk (will be moderated). Subscription or Removal requests should be sent to: re-request@doc.ic.ac.uk Back issues can be obtained via anonymous ftp from ftp-host: dse.doc.ic.ac.uk (IP number: 146.169.2.20). Directory: requirements. Files are called renl1, renl2, etc. If you cannot use ftp then you can get any back issues using email. Send email containing the following to ftpmail@doc.ic.ac.uk open dse.doc.ic.ac.uk cd requirements get quit The Requirements Engineering Newsletter and its archive is also accessible through WWW. The URL is: http://web.doc.ic.ac.uk/req-eng/index.html You may wish to link any Internet software engineering information resource you maintain to this and/or notify the manager of your local Web server by passing this message on to them. If you wish your requirements or software engineering ftp archive to be linked to the RE Newsletter archive please inform me. If you are unfamiliar with WWW you may wish to obtain a copy of the Mosaic public domain internet browser which is available for X-Windows, Macintosh or Microsoft Windows. The RE Newsletter can be conveniently accessed through the Imperial College, Department of Computing, United Kingdom, WWW Home Page (http://www.doc.ic.ac.uk/). !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Subject: IMPORTANT: European Laboratories Without Walls From: acwf@doc.ic.ac.uk (Anthony Finkelstein) Discussion of the new Framework Programme (FP IV) for European collaboration is at an advanced stage though the detailed work programmes have not been issued. Within the Training and Mobility of Researchers activity some money (approximately 350 million ecu) will be devoted to linking laboratories of different countries. "Associations of laboratories from different member states will be mobilised to collaborate on a common research problem". I propose to use the European Laboratory Without Walls scheme to support an information dissemination, coordination and technical exchange scheme in the area of Requirements Engineering based around this newsletter and a linked research agenda. I also propose to use the scheme to integrate information resources available on the Internet in Requirements Engineering. I WOULD BE GRATEFUL IF EUROPEAN SUBSCRIBERS TO THE NEWSLETTER (INCLUDING EEA, FORMERLY EFTA, COUNTRIES IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE AND NEW INDEPENDENT STATES OF THE FORMER SOVIET UNION) WHO ARE INTERESTED IN DISCUSSING THIS PROPOSAL COULD CONTACT ME. SUBSCRIBERS TO THE NEWSLETTER IN THE USA WHO ARE INTERESTED IN AN ASSOCIATED US LABORATORY WITHOUT WALLLS SHOULD CONTACT STEVE FICKAS (fickas@cs.uoregon.edu) !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! From: adavis@vivaldi.uccs.edu (Al Davis) Subject: ICRE Advanced Program Advance Program IEEE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON REQUIREMENTS ENGINEERING An IEEE Software Magazine Technology Transfer Conference April 18-21, 1994 Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA KEYNOTE SPEAKER: Dr. Michael Jackson "Problems, Requirements and Specifications" With A Choice of Two Pre-Conference Tutorials ICRE '94 is being held on April 19 through 21, 1994 in Colorado Springs, Colorado with pre-conference tutorials on April 18. It is a new international conference designed to facilitate the exchange of experience and technology between requirements engineering practitioners and researchers. Its program is unique in that it will emphasize (1) experiences, problems, and recommendations of practitioners, (2) research results ripe for current exploitation, and (3) research with long term goals. ICRE '94 is the first conference to earn the designation "An IEEE Software Magazine Technology Transfer Conference" for meeting stringent requirements concerning emphasis on technology transfer. The primary goal of the conference is to bring together a broad spectrum of researchers and practitioners of requirements engineering worldwide for a lively interchange of practical problems, technical solutions, and long-term research ideas. Participants should leave the conference with a better understanding of (1) the challenges facing writers and maintainers of requirements documents for complex systems, (2) available short-term solutions to these problems, and (3) solutions that may be available in the future as well as pointers to short and long-term research directions. Sponsored by IEEE Computer Society - Technical Committee on Software Engineering In Association with AIAA and CITTI Corporate Support from Fujitsu PRE-CONFERENCE TUTORIALS TUTORIAL 1 Monday, April 18, 1994 8:00 a.m. - Noon "Introduction to Requirements Engineering" by Dr. Richard Thayer TUTORIAL DESCRIPTION This seminar presents system and software requirements engineering activities and mechanisms with emphases on large- scale software development. It includes an overview of system and software requirements engineering; the impact of the new concept of operations (CONOPS) document; how the CONOPS interfaces with the software requirements specification; tools, techniques, and methodologies for analyzing and representing requirements; and appropriate documentation standards. TUTORIAL OUTLINE I. Software System Engineering -- The Role of System and Software II. Engineering in the Software Development Cycle III. Software Requirements Analysis -- Determining What is Required Software IV. Requirements Specifications -- Writing it Down State-of- the-Practice Software Analysis Methodologies V. Verifying, Testing, and Reviewing -- Making Sure the Requirements are Right VI. Developing Accurate Requirements Specifications BIOGRAPHY Dr. Richard Thayer, Professor of Computer Science at California State University (Sacramento), teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in software engineering and project management. Prior to this, he served over 20 years in the U.S. Air Force as a senior officer in a variety of management positions in engineering, research, and computer science. He directed the Air Force R&D program in computer science. Dr. Thayer is a senior member of the IEEE Computer Society, the IEEE Software Enginering Standards Subcommittee, and the Association for Computing Machinery. He is an associate fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, where he served on the AIAA Technical Committee on Computer Systems. He is also a registered professional engineer. He has a BSEE and an MS degree from the University of Illinios at Urbana and a PhD from the University of California at Santa Barbara; all in electrical engineering. TUTORIAL 2 Monday, April 18, 1994 1:00 - 5:00 p.m. "Using Prototypes to Generate Requirements" by Dr. Stephen Andriole TUTORIAL DESCRIPTION It is well known that poor requirements definitions will lead to systems that fail to satisfy user requirements. Much lip service has been paid to "the requirements problem" but little has been done to "template" a process likely to yield cost-effective requirements definitions. This tutorial will present a set of tools -- anchored in systems engineering and other design standards -- that permits analysts to elicit and model requirements with reference to constraints so that user requirements can be prioritized -- and then used to develop alternative system concepts so that trade-off analyses can be conducted. All such activities can be supported by commercial off the shelf (COTS) software that is self-documenting (regardless of your platform) This tutorial will describe the methods, tools and techniques that can be used to develop enhanced user requirements specifications. The (Mac, Windows & UNIX) COTS software that can be used to implement the methods and techniques will also be covered. Through constraints assessment and requirements traceability, user requirements definitions can lead to enhanced software specifications. TUTORIAL OUTLINE I. The Requirements Problem II. The Interactive Requirements Modeling & Prototyping Template III. COTS Software IV. Case Studies V. Implementation BIOGRAPHY Dr. Stephen Andriole is currently Professor of Information Studies and Director of the Center for Multidisciplinary Information Systems Engineering at Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA. Dr. Andriole also founded International Information Systems, Inc. He is formerly the Director of DARPA's Cybernetics Technology office, where he was also a Program Manager. He served as George Mason Institute Professor of Information Technology at George Mason University where he also served as Chairperson of the Department of Information Systems & Systems Engineering. Dr. Andriole is the author or editor of 25 books, including "Rapid Application Prototyping" (QED, 1992), "Information System Design Principles for the 90's" (AFCEA International Press, 1990), "Information Technology for Command & Control" (IEEE Press, 1989), and "Handbook of Decision Support Systems" (Tab Books/McGraw-Hill, 1989). ICRE '94 COFERENCE PROGRAM MONDAY, April 18, 1994 8:00 a.m. - Noon Tutorial -- Dr. Richard Thayer 1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. Tutorial -- Dr. Stephen Andriole TUESDAY, April 19, 1994 8:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. Plenary Session Keynote Speaker: Dr. Michael Jackson "Problems, Requirements and Specifications" 11:00 a.m. - Noon Session 2: Requirements Definition Methods --"Requirements Definition Methods for Information Technology'" J. Dobson, R. Sterns --"The Concept of Operations: The Bridge from Operational Requirements to Technical Specifications," R. Fairley, R. Thayer 1:30 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. Panel 3A: Requirements Standards Status 1:30 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. Session 3B: Poster Session I --"Taxonomy for Requirements Analysis Techniques," K. Hughes, R. Rankin, C. Sennett --"AMORE: The Advances Multimedia Organizer for Requirements Elicitation," D. Wood --"Modeling the Evolution of Artifacts," C. Rolland --"A Requirements Engineering Tool Case Study," T. Smith --"Ripple: A Formally Specified Prototyping System," B. Belkhouche, B. Geraci 3:30 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. Session 4: Conflict Resolution --"Software Requirements as Negotiated Win Conditions," B. Boehm, et al. --"Requirements Critiquing Using Domain Abstractions," N. Maiden, A. Sutcliffe --"Supporting Multi-Perspective Requirements Engineering," W. Robinson, S. Fickas 5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. Reception 7:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m. Birds of a Feather Session WEDNESDAY, April 20, 1994 9:00 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. Session 5: Analyzing Requirements --"Deriving Human-Error Tolerance Requirements from Task Analysis," P. Wright, B. Fields, M. Harrison --"Inquiry-Based Scenario Analysis of System Requirements," C. Potts, et al. --"A Formal Approach to Scenario Analysis," P. Hsia, et al. 11:00 a.m. - Noon Session 6: Requirements Languages --"A Visual Software Requirements Definition Method," A. Ohnishi --"An Object-Oriented Dual Language for Specifying Reactive Systems," P. Nesi 1:30 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. Panel 7A: Role of Software Architecture in Requirements Engineering 1:30 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. Session 7B: Poster Session II --"Facilitating Fuzzy to Formal Requirements Modelling," P. Loucopoulos --"Underlying Concepts in Process Specification," J. Soares --"A Pattern Matching and Clustering Based Approach for Supporting Requirements Transformation," J. Liang --"Attacking Requirements Complexity Using a Separation of Concerns," M. Alford --"Validating and Evolving Software Requirements in a Systematic Framework," M.B. Ozcan, J. Siddiqi 3:30 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. Session 8: Prototyping --"A Requirements Engineering Environment for System Prototyping," C. Burns --"Executing, Viewing and Explaining Conceptual Models," J. Gulla --"Towards a System for the Construction, Clarification, Discovery, and Formalization of Requirements," J. Siddiqi, et al. THURSDAY, April 21, 1994 9:00 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. Session 9: Requirements Engineering Issues --"System Bounding Issues for Analysis," J. Drake, W. Tsai --"An Analysis of the Requirements Traceability Problem," O. Gotel, A. Finkelstein --"Towards a Deeper Understanding of Quality for Conceptual Models," O. Lindland 11:00 a.m. - Noon Session 10: Natural Language Techniques --"The REVIEW System: From Formal Specification to Natural Language," P. Tremblay --"AbstFinder, A Prototype Abstraction Finder for Natural Language Text for Use in Requirements Elicitation: Design, Methodology, and Evaluation," L. Goldin, D. Berry 1:30 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. Panel 11A: Issues and Problems With Technology Transfer 1:30 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. Session 11B: Use of Formal Approaches --"The Directorate Information System at St. Thomas Hospital: A Study in Domain Analysis," J. Holland --"Transitioning to Rigorous Software Specification," N. Morgan, C. Schahczenski --"Using Formal Methods for Requirements Specification of a Proposed POSIX Standard," N. Reizer 3:30 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. Session 12: Method Evaluations --"An OOA Model With System Function Specifications," S.-C. Chou, S.-G. Chung --"Types, Classes and Collections in Object-Oriented Analysis," G. Eckert --"Embedded Computer System Requirements Methods Analysis and Improvement," S. White ICRE '94 CONFERENCE REGISTRATION FORM Complete and return this form with your check (in U.S. dollars only) payable to ICRE '94 -- IEEE Computer Society, or charge to your Mastercard or Visa using the form below. PLEASE MAIL OR FAX TO: David Jacobsohn; ICRE '94 Registration Chair; 5642 Harper Avenue; Chicago, Illinois 60637; Phone and FAX: (312) 752-4562. NAME(s): Last/Family First MI Name on Badge Company Name: Address/Mailstop: City/State/Zip/Country: Daytime Phone Number: FAX Number: Email: IEEE/CS Membership Number: Please circle all applicable fees: REGISTRATION (before March 28, 1994) Conference Only -- IEEE Member $395.00 -- Non-Member $500.00 -- Student (Member) $210.00 Conference & Tutorial 1 -- IEEE Member $570.00 -- Non-Member $730.00 -- Student (Member) $385.00 Conference & Tutorial 2 -- IEEE Member $570.00 -- Non-Member $730.00 -- Student (Member) $385.00 Conference, Tutls 1 & 2 -- IEEE Member $730.00 -- Non-Member $945.00 -- Student (Member) $545.00 LATE REGISTRATION (After March 27, 1994) Conference Only -- IEEE Member $475.00 -- Non-Member $600.00 -- Student (Member) $250.00 Conference & Tutorial 1 -- IEEE Member $685.00 -- Non-Member $880.00 -- Student (Member) $460.00 Conference & Tutorial 2 -- IEEE Member $685.00 -- Non-Member $880.00 -- Student (Member) $460.00 Conference, Tutls 1 & 2 -- IEEE Member $880.00 -- Non-Member $1045.00 -- Student (Member) $655.00 Total Fees (Conference & Tutorials): $ Check: Visa: Mastercard: Credit Card #: Expiration Date: Cardholder Name: Signature: CONFERENCE REGISTRATION NOTES: --Requests for refunds must be received in writing no later than March 18, 1994. --Tutorial registration fee includes a coffee/pastry break and a bound text or copies of slides. --ICRE registration fee includes a copy of the proceedings, a copy of the March 1994 issue of IEEE Software, and two complimentary beverage tickets for the Tuesday reception. --Limited attendance. Please register early. Avoid disappointment. The conference committee reserves the right to cancel a tutorial with insufficient early registration. --Registration desk at the Sheraton will be open: Sunday, April 17, 4:00 to 6:00 p.m.; Monday, April 18, 7:00 to 10:00 a.m., 12:00 to 2:00 p.m.; Tuesday, April 19, 7:30 to 10:00 a.m., 12:30 to 2:30 p.m.; Wednesday, April 20, 8:00 to 10:00 a.m., 12:30 to 2:30 p.m.; Thursday, April 21, 8:00 to 10:00 a.m., 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. SOCIAL EVENTS (Advanced Registration and Payment Required) Please contact Pikes Peak Tours, 3704 W. Colorado Ave.; Colorado Springs, CO 80904; phone: 1-800-345-8197 (local: 719-633-1181), directly for information and/or registration for any of the following events. All events include transportation. There is a 10 person minimum for each tour. Pikes Peak Tours reserves the right to cancel any of the tours due to lack of participation. Pre-registration deadline is March 15, 1994. Social events for spouses and families: --April 20 - Olympic Training Center ($9.00 per person) The Olympic Training Center is host each year to thousands of athletes in training plus housing nine permanent national teams. --April 21 - USAF Academy and Garden of the Gods ($13.50 per person) Enjoy a relaxed tour of the 18,000 acre Air Force Academy before visiting the most photographed park in the U.S., the Garden of the Gods. Social events for conference participants and families: --April 17 - Brunch at Broadmoor Hotel ($31.00 per person) Tour through downtown to one of Colorado's 5 star resorts, the Broadmoor Hotel, for a spectacular Sunday Brunch. --April 22 - Michael Martin Murphey and the Colorado Springs Symphony ($21.00 per person) Enjoy a musical evening with western music by Michael Martin Murphey and the Colorado Springs Symphony. This is always a sell out! Reservations are held on a first come, first serve basis. --April 22 - Cripple Creek ($8.00 per person) Tour to Cripple Creek, the restored western mining town, to try your luck in the casinos. Free food, drinks, cash-back coupons, and more! --April 23 - Flying W Ranch ($21.00 per person)Experience a true western evening at the Flying W Ranch., a restored cowboy ranch. A chuckwagon barbecue dinner is followed by the famous Wranglers western stage show. ICRE '94 ORGANIZING COMMITTEE STEERING COMMITTEE: Harlan Black IET Carl Chang University of Illinois at Chicago C. G. Chung National Chiao-Tung University Alan Davis University of Colorado at Colorado Springs Merlin Dorfman Lockheed Missiles and Space Co. Irving Ho International Integrated Systems Pei Hsia University of Texas at Arlington Jawed Siddiqi Sheffield Hallam University CONFERENCE CO-CHAIRS Alan M. Davis University of Colorado at Colorado Springs P. C. Chen Directorate General of Telecommunications Workshop Chair WORKSHOP CHAIR Jawed Siddiqi Sheffield Hallam University PROGRAM CO-CHIARS: Pei Hsia University of Texas at Arlington Chyan-Goei Chung National Chiao-Tung University LOCAL ARRANGEMENTS CO-CHAIRS Kerry Baugh Dandapani Ramaswami University of Colorado at Colorado Springs TUTORIALS CHAIR Jeffrey Tsai University of Illinois at Chicago Audio-Visual Chair AUDIO-VISUAL CHAIR J. D. Berdon University of Colorado at Colorado Springs Publicity Chair PUBLICITY CHAIR Susan Ihns Colorado Springs REGISTRATION CHAIR David Jacobsohn FINANCE CHAIR Mike Winterbottom SofTech, Inc. PROCEEDINGS CHAIR Jawed Siddiqi Sheffield Hallam University PROGRAM COMMITTEE M. Alford, Ascent Logic, Inc. S. Andriole, Drexel University E. Bersoff, BTG, Inc. H. Black, IET J. Brackett, Boston University C. Chang, University of Illinois J. Y. Chen, National Chiao-Tung University P. Coad, Object International, Inc. M. Dorfman, Lockheed Missiles and Space Co. S. Fickas, University of Oregon A. Finkelstein, Imperial College S. Gerhart, University Houston at Clear Lake J. Goguen, Oxford University I. Ho, International Integrated Systems S. Isoda, NTT Corporation K. Jordan, Institute for Defense Analyses D. Kung, University of Texas at Arlington Y.S. Kuo, Academia Sinica B. Lin, ITRI I. P. Lin, National Taiwan University Luqi, Naval Postgraduate School T. Nakajima, Mitsubishi K. Nakamura, Fujitsu C. Potts, Georgia Institute of Technology C. Ramamoorthy, University California, Berkeley W. Royce, TRW, Inc. C. Shekaran, GTE Laboratories, Inc. J. Siddiqi, Sheffield Hallam University C. Singer, Bellcore R. Thayer, Sacramento State University Y. Toyoshima, Fujitsu J. Tsai, University of Illinois at Chicago F. J. Wang, National Chiao-Tung University I. Whyte, British Telecomm Research C.C. Yang, Taipei Institute of Technology R. Yeh, International Software Systems G. Zelesnik, Carnegie Mellon University HOTEL REGISTRATION International Conference on Requirements Engineering, April 18-21, 1994 Complete and mail or FAX your reservation to: The Sheraton Colorado Springs Hotel, Reservations Department, 2886 South Circle Drive, Colorado Springs, CO 80906; Phone: (719) 576- 5900, FAX: (719) 576-7695. To confirm your room reservation, the Sheraton must receive this coupon by March 12, 1994. Reservations made after March 12 may be subject to higher rates and space availability. The Sheraton requires a deposit in advance in the amount of the first night's stay to guarantee your reservation. Cancellations must be received at least 48 hours prior to arrival; be sure to obtain a cancellation number. If you do not cancel 48 hours prior to arrival, your credit card will be billed for one night's lodging plus tax. Check-in time is 3:00 p.m., check-out time is 11:00 a.m. Please indicate the type of room you desire: Single @ $46.96 plus tax Double @ $56.17 plus tax Last Name: First Name Company Name: Telephone: Address: City/State/Zip: Arrival Date: A.M. P.M. Departure Date: A.M. P.M. Credit Card (Visa /MC /AmEx )#: Expiration Date: Signature: Please circle if you need hotel shuttle bus pick-up at the airport. Shuttle Bus Date: Flight: Time of Arrival: Please call hotel when you arrive at airport. Please circle to request a no-smoking room. No- smoking room ********************************************************************** From: sjbr@cs.utwente.nl (Sjaak Brinkkemper) Subject: CAiSE*94 Advance Program [Moderator: The programme for ICSE 16 is very lengthy we have therefore made a full copy available via anonymous ftp from ftp-host: dse.doc.ic.ac.uk (IP number: 146.169.2.20) in the file /requirements/CAISE94PROG] CAiSE*94 The 6th Conference on Advanced Information Systems Engineering Date: 6-10 June 1994 Location: Utrecht, The Netherlands ORGANISATION: Software Engineering Research Centre and University of Twente ADVANCE PROGRAM WELCOME TO CAiSE*94 CAiSE*94 is the sixth International Conference on Information Systems Engineering. It will be held in Utrecht, the Netherlands, from 6 - 10 June, 1994. It continues the tradition of previous years, when CAiSE was held in Stockholm (Sweden), Trondheim (Norway), Manchester (England) and Paris (France). The CAiSE conferences are a platform for researchers and practitioners from academia and industry to discuss and exchange new developments in methods, techniques and tools to develop advanced information systems. The programme of events for CAiSE*94 provides an excellent starting point for these stimulating exchange of results and new developments. The three- day conference consists of a scientific programme and an industrial programme offering the participants the possibility to attend a wide variety of activities including paper sessions, tutorials and an exhibition. Utrecht is an excellent place for a conference. The beautiful city is located in the middle of the Netherlands. It has a modern heart containing the largest indoor shopping centre of the Netherlands, as well as an old, pedestrian-friendly city centre with canals and several mediaeval churches and other buildings. The many museums, theatres, restaurants, and bars form the perfect ambiance for the conference. We hope to meet you in Utrecht this summer! ********************************************************************** Subject: Requirements Engineering at ICSE 16 From: Bashar Nuseibeh (ban@doc.ic.ac.uk) [Moderator: The programme for ICSE 16 is very lengthy we have therefore made a full copy available via anonymous ftp from ftp-host: dse.doc.ic.ac.uk (IP number: 146.169.2.20) in the file /requirements/ICSE16PROG. The official copy of the advance programme is also available via anonymous ftp on ccrhp3.criai.it in the file pub/icse/program.txt. Moreover the file readme contains information you may need about ICSE-16] A Three-course Meal at ICSE-16 for the Requirements Connoisseur A general software engineering conference is not always ideal for the specialist researcher or practitioner. Rather, it is an opportunity to get learn about novel contributions in related areas of software engineering (SE). Nevertheless, having a focus or a particular interest in a specific area helps an attendee make the most of a diverse programme, and requirements engineering (RE) is one such focus. Hors DÕoeuvres Tutorials: None of the ICSE-16 tutorials addresses requirements engineering explicitly, but a number of tutorials do present tools and techniques that facilitate and support the work of the requirements engineer. For example, the tutorial on ÒZ for Software EngineersÓ (tutorial 9), may provide the ideal opportunity to get to grips with a formal method for specifying the requirements software systems in general, and safety-critical systems in particular. Workshops: Three pre-ICSE workshops will be held on the 16-17th May 94 exploring the intersections of software engineering with AI, HCI ands Databases. The first two are of particular relevance to requirements engineers. For example the SE & AI workshop will address knowledge acquisition and its relationship to RE, while the SE & HCI workshop will explore the requirements for user interfaces. Main Course For the requirements connoisseur, the highlight of the ICSE-16 main programme will be the presentation by Greenspan, Mylopoulos and Borgida on ÒFormal Requirements Modelling LanguagesÓ which has been selected as the best paper of ICSE-6 ten years ago. Greenspan et alÕs work on a requirements modelling language (RML) has been very influential in the field of RE, and in this presentation they reflect on their experiences and progress since then. Recommended by the Chef. There is no exclusive session devoted to RE at this yearÕs ICSE, but again many papers are relevant. Certainly, the work is much in evidence, exemplified by the keynote address by Robin Milner on the foundations of software engineering, the state-of-the-art report by Marie-Claude Gaudel on formal specification techniques, and the first paper session of the conference on experience with formal representations of software. With more and more systems being evolved and maintained rather than built from scratch, session 1B (on 18th May 94) on understanding complex systems may prove usefu in understanding systems and their requirements. The paper by Yu and Mylopoulos on ÒUnderstanding the ÔWhyÕ in Software Process Modelling, Analysis and DesignÓ (19th May 94) also appears particularly relevant to requirements engineers. Side Orders Lots of interesting people to talk to during breaks, lunches, dinners and receptions. Regarded by many as a main course! Desserts Tools Fair: The meeting point of practitioners and researchers. A buffet. Workshop: A single post ICSE workshop will be held on software engineering education. Can you afford to miss it? Can you leave without a cup of coffee?! ********************************************************************** Subject: PRELIMINARY ANNOUNCEMENT: ICSE17 From: Debra Brodbeck PRELIMINARY ANNOUNCEMENT 17th International Conference on Software Engineering Seattle, Washington (USA) April 24-28 1995 The 17th International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE-17) will be held April 24-28 1995, in Seattle, Washington (USA). Dewayne Perry (AT&T Bell Laboratories) will serve as General Chair, and the Program Co-chairs will be Ross Jeffrey (University of New South Wales) and David Notkin (University of Washington). As in previous ICSEs, there will be presentation of refereed tutorials and technical papers, as well as exhibits and demonstrations. A number of pre-Conference Workshops will explore research issues at the intersection between Software Engineering and other disciplines including Software Architecture, Integration, Technology Transfer, Research Paradigms, Formal Methods in Industry, and Software Engineering and Programming Languages. The deadline for all submission is September 1, 1994. A full Call-for-Papers will appear later in the Spring. For further information about ICSE-17, please send e-mail to icse17@cs.washington.edu. A full page announcement in PostScript format is presently available via anonymous FTP on cs.washington.edu in the file pub/se/icse17/announce.ps ********************************************************************** From: pdejager@uunorth.north.net (Peter de Jager) Subject: ComputerWorld Article ComputerWorld Sept 6th 1993 - In Depth article Doomsday 2000 ------------- by Peter de Jager Have you ever been in a car accident? Time seems to slow down as you realize you're going to crash into the car ahead of you. It's too late to avoid it -- you're going to crash. All you can do now is watch it happen. The information systems community is heading toward an event more devastating than a car crash. We are heading toward the year 2000. We are heading toward a failure of our standard date format: MM/DD/YY. Unfortunately, unlike the car crash, time will not slow down for us. If anything, we're accelerating toward disaster. This is a good news/bad news story. First the bad news: There is very little good news. There is no way to avoid the fact that our information systems are based on a faulty standard that will cost the worldwide computer community billions of dollars in programming effort. Perhaps more importantly, we are going to suffer a credibility crisis. We and our computers were supposed to make life easier; this was our promise. What we have delivered is a catastrophe. The problem is twofold: the date issue itself and, more importantly, our reluctance to address the problem Problem ID: ----------- What exactly is the "problem"? To save storage space -- and perhaps reduce the amount of keystrokes necessary to enter a year -- most IS groups have allocated two digits to the year. For example, "1993" is stored as "93" in our data files, and "2000" will be stored as "00". These two-digit dates exist on millions of data files used as input to milions of applications. This two-digit date affects data manipulation, primarily substractions and comparisons. For instance, I was born in 1955. If I ask the computer to calculate how old I am today, it substracts 55 from 93 and announces that I'm 38. So far so good. But what happens in the year 2000? The computer will subtract 55 from 00 and will state that I am -55 years old. This error will affect any calculation that produces or uses time spans, such as an interest calculation. If you have some data records and want to sort them by date (e.g., 1965, 1905, 1966), the resulting sequence would be 1905, 1965, 1966. However, if you add in a date record such as 2015, the computer, which reads only the last two digits of the date, sees 05, 15, 65, 66 and sorts them incorrectly. These are just two types of calculations that are going to produce garbage. There are others. The task facing us is to identify and correct all the date data and check the integrity of all calculations involving date information. We must correct the data residing in all data files or write code to handle the problem. The starting point: ------------------- How do we identify the problem data and the associated calculations? We have few, if any, standards for labeling data used in date calculations. The only choice we have is to examine each line of code and make the necessary changes. One IS person I know of, performed an internal survey and came up with the following results: of 104 systems, 18 would fail in the year 2000. These 18 mission-critical systems were made up of 8,174 programs and data-entry screens as well as some 3,313 databases. With less than seven years to go, someone is going to be working overtime. By the way, this initial survey required 10 weeks of effort. Ten weeks just to identify the problem areas. How many systems do you have? How many lines of code do you have in your organization? How many data files? How many maintenance programmers? The problem extends beyond mere calculations and into the I/O processes of every application. Can you enter 2000 into your data screen, or can you enter only two digits, forcing the input of 00? Can your hard-copy reports print four digits? The crisis is very real and potentially very costly. Ken Orr, principal at the Ken Orr Institutes, and Larry Martin, President of Data Dimensions, Inc., estimate that Fortune 50 organizations will each have to spend about 35 to 40 cents per line of code to convert all their existing systems to accept the change from the year 1999 to 2000. That translates into about $50 million to $100 million for each company. The mind boggles at a maintenance problem with that price tag. And the costs could be even higher. "The truth is, until we work through a complete cycle with some large organization we are not going to really know," Orr says. I have spoken at association meetings and seminars and when I ask for a show of hands of people addressing the problem, the response is underwhelming. If I get one in 10 respondents, I'm facing an enlightened group. Typically, all I get are snickers and comments such as, "I won't be in this position or this company in the year 2000. It's not my problem." This attitude in the computing community is the real problem. It is very difficult for us to acknowledge that we made a "little" error that will cost companies millions of dollars. It is also a "pay me now or pay me later" situation. "We in the IS industry have not been paying our way," says Gerald Weinberg, author of Quality Software Management and winner of the 1991 J.D. Warnier Prize for Excellence in Information Science. "We have been building up a 'national debt' just as surely as the U.S. has been building up a money debt. It will be paid by our children -- our successors -- one way or another," Weinberg says. We don't have a choice. We must start addressing the problem today or there won't be enough time to solve it. Status quo means applications that will produce meaningless results in the new millennium. Weinberg says he believes this procrastination is an indication of deep management malaise. "If software engineering managers cannot manage a change that they've had 1,000 years to prepare for, how can we expect them to manage a change that happens without notice? In other words, if this change causes a crisis in your organization, everything will cause a crisis in your organization -- and often nothing will cause a crisis." The inability of the industry to even think about such a project is troublesome. "No one wants to step up to the issue -- not [IS] management, not the vendors, not the industry gurus," Orr says. "As with all legacy systems, this problem is messy, expensive and unromantic. No one wants to go in and tell management they have a multimillion-dollar requirement just to keep the business running and that they really have no options." The reason nothing is being done, says Caper Jones, chairman at Software Productivity Research, Inc., is that the software industry isnt't used to taking long-term preventative steps. "I expect that most companies will not start worrying about the problem until 1999," Jones says. "For some, this will be too late." Now the good news: ------------------ There is no good news. Object-oriented systems may be able to help. Faced with the huge maintenance costs of fixing their systems, firms may opt to rewrite systems from scratch using object-oriented programming techniques. Tom Love, IBM vice president of the Object-Oriented Group, is a proponent of this theory. Some companies are unveiling testing and inventory tools that may ease the identification of trouble spots. Others are hoping that bombarding people with information is the best remedy. to that end, William Goodwin in Brooklyn, N.Y., publishes a newsletter entitled "Tick, Tick, Tick," which bings together people in the IS industry concerned about the impact of the year 2000. But is the warning falling on deaf ears? "I feel like a lone voice crying in the wilderness," says Brian Pitts, one of Goodwin's subscribers and project manager at Berry Co. in Dayton, Ohio. "Current economic conditions are making this problem more difficult to address. Management is focused on short-term results and is placing long-term negative consequences on the back burner." The next seven years will be filled with dire predictions. "You are going to become very, very tired of millennium moaners telling you that your software will fail as it enters the new millennium," says Nicholas Zvegintzov, publisher of Software Maintenance News. "But be patient with them. There really is something to be said for them." "Copyright 1994 by CW Publishing, Inc. , 375 Cochituate Road, Framingham, Mass. 01701. Reprinted by permission of Computerworld." Sept 6th 1993 - In Depth article Author: Peter de Jager Speaker on Change & Creativity & Issues relating to Computers Brampton, Ont, Canada Tel: (905) 792-8706 Fax: (905) 792-9818 Internet: pdejager@mail.north.net This article may be reposted on two conditions. 1) The author is notified of the reposting 2) The complete copyright notice is included in the reposting ********************************************************************** From: Janis Bubenko Subject: Baltic DB'94 invitation [Moderator: The programme for BALTIC DB 94 is very lengthy we have therefore made a full copy available via anonymous ftp from ftp-host: dse.doc.ic.ac.uk (IP number: 146.169.2.20) in the file /requirements/BALTICDB94PROG] C A L L F O R A T T E N D A N C E Baltic DB'94 Baltic Workshop *** on NATIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE DATABASES: - Problems, Methods, and Experiences. * Vilnius, Lithuania 17-20 May, 1994 The workshop is organised by: Institute of Mathematics and Informatics, Lithuania, Vilnius University, Vilnius Technical University, Kaunas University of Technology, Norwegian Institute of Technology, and the Swedish Institute for Systems Development (SISU). The workshop is supported by: The Swedish Institute, The Commission of the European Communities, Directorate General for Industry, The Norwegian Ministry for Foreign Affairs, The Swedish Institute for Systems Development, the Open Society Fund-Lithuania, DIALOG AB, Stockholm, Informix Software Scandinavia, the Baltic VLDB Fund, Stockholm, and organised in co- operation with the VLDB Endowment's Tutorial Series. Additional supporters are negotiated. OBJECTIVE The objective of the workshop is to bring together researchers as well as practitioners in the field of large databases for public administration, serving as vital components in national infrastructures. Particular emphasis is placed on problems, issues, and opportunities in the Baltic states and in their developing societies and economies. The workshop addresses theoretical and methodological as well as usage oriented and political issues related to the technology of information systems and data bases and their application. The workshop seeks to gather professionals from the Baltic countries and experts from the rest of the world, to present and discuss their findings and experiences, thereby promoting future contacts and co-operation. **********************************************************************