Reflections On Programming Systems

This book presents a historical and philosophical analysis of programming systems, intended as large computational systems like, for instance, operating systems, programmed to control processes. The introduction to the volume emphasizes the contemporary need of providing a foundational analysis of such systems, rooted in a broader historical and philosophical discussion. The different chapters are grouped around three major themes. The first concerns the early history of large systems developed against the background of issues related to the growing semantic gap between hardware and code. The second revisits the fundamental issue of complexity of large systems, dealt with by the use of formal methods and the development of `grand designs’ like Unix. Finally, a third part considers several issues related to programming systems in the real world, including chapters on aesthetical, ethical and political issues. This book will interest researchers from a diversity of backgrounds. It will appeal to historians, philosophers, as well as logicians and computer scientists who want to engage with topics relevant to the history and philosophy of programming and more specifically the role of programming systems in the foundations of computing.

This state-of-the-art survey, reflecting on the teaching of programming, has been written by a group of primarily Scandinavian researchers and educators with special interest and experience in the subject of programming. The 14 chapters - contributed by 24 authors - present practical experience gathered in the process of teaching programming and associated with computing education research work. Special emphasis is placed on practical advice and concrete suggestions. The authors are all members of the Scandinavian Pedagogy of Programming Network (SPoP), and bring together a diverse body of experiences from the Nordic countries. The 14 chapters of the book have been carefully written and edited to present 4 coherent units on issues in introductory programming courses, object-oriented programming, teaching software engineering issues, and assessment. Each of these individual parts has its own detailed introduction. The topics addressed span a wide range of problems and solutions associated with the teaching of programming such as introductory programming courses, exposition of the programming process, apprentice-based learning, functional programming first, problem-based learning, the use of on-line tutorials, object-oriented programming and Java, the BlueJ environment to introduce programming, model-driven programming as opposed to the prevailing language-driven approach, teaching software engineering, testing, extreme programming, frameworks, feedback and assessment, active learning, technology-based individual feedback, and mini project programming exams.

In one of the most unorthodox yet necessary programming books ever to appear, Daniel Kohanski, a seasoned programmer and systems consultant, delves into the foundational concepts and basic mechanics of computers and computer programming. Rather than writing yet another book that teaches readers how to write code, Kohanski penetrates more deeply into the nature of programming istelf. By exploring what programming is all about, The Philosophical Programmer: Reflections on the Moth in the Machine offers an introduction for the computer neophyte as well as an opportunity for experienced programmers to understand better the fundamental nature of their craft.

Information Systems Development: Reflections, Challenges and New Directions, is the collected proceedings of the 20th International Conference on Information Systems Development held in Edinburgh, Scotland, August 24 - 26, 2011. It follows in the tradition of previous conferences in the series in exploring the connections between industry, research and education. These proceedings represent ongoing reflections within the academic community on established information systems topics and emerging concepts, approaches and ideas. It is hoped that the papers herein contribute towards disseminating research and improving practice

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 18th European Symposium on Programming, ESOP 2009, held in York, UK, in March 2009, as part of ETAPS 2009, the European Joint Conferences on Theory and Practice of Software. The 26 revised full papers presented together with two abstracts of invited talks were carefully reviewed and selected from 98 full paper submissions. The topics addressed are typed functional programming, computational effects, types for object-oriented languages, verification, security, concurrency, service-oriented computing, parallel and concurrent programming.

This book presents the state of the art of research and development of computational reflection in the context of software engineering. Reflection has attracted considerable attention recently in software engineering, particularly from object-oriented researchers and professionals. The properties of transparency, separation of concerns, and extensibility supported by reflection have largely been accepted as useful in software development and design; reflective features have been included in successful software development technologies such as the Java language. The book offers revised versions of papers presented first at a workshop held during OOPSLA'99 together with especially solicited contributions. The papers are organized in topical sections on reflective and software engineering foundations, reflective software adaptability and evolution, reflective middleware, engineering Java-based reflective languages, and dynamic reconfiguration through reflection.

Written in honor of Sir Tony Hoare's 75th Birthday, this book provides a discussion of the influence of Hoare's work on current research from an international selection of expert contributors. Includes a scientific biography, listing his most influential work.

This book is a collection of refereed invited papers on the history of computing from the 1940s to the 1990s with one paper going back to look at Italian calculating/computing machines from the first century to the 20th century. The 22 papers cover a wide range of computing related topics such as specific early computer systems, their construction, their use and their users; software programming and operating systems; people involved in the theory, design and use of these computers; computer education; and conservation of computing technology. Many of the authors were actually involved in the events they describe and share their specific reflections on the history of computing.