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Announcement
============

Conference     Object Technology at Work
Date           29. + 30. September 1994
Location       University of Z"urich
Anmeldung      SI Sekretariat, Tel: +41 1 371 7342 Fax: +41 1 371 73 42
Costs          sFr 200.-- 
Organizer      Swiss Informatics Society (SI),
               Special Interest Groups DBTA und CHOOSE

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Conference program

Thursday 29:

13:00-17:00 Tutorial session (tutorials are presented in parallel):

Klaus Dittrich, Institut fu"r Informatik, Universita"t Zu"rich An Introduction to Object-Oriented DBMS Concepts.

Ralph E. Johnson, Department of Computer Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign How to Develop Frameworks.

Werner Kuhn and Andrew U. Frank, Department of Geoinformation, Tech nical University Vienna Object-Orientation and Geographic Information Systems (GIS).

Kenneth S. Rubin, ParcPlace Systems Managing Object-Oriented Projects

17:30-18:00 General Assembly of CHOOSE

18:00-19:00 --- aperitif ---

19:00 --- dinner (optional) ---

Friday 30:

9:00- 9:15 Welcome

9:15-10:30 Keynote Talk: Mike Brodie, GTE Labs

10:30-11:00 --- coffee ---

11:00-11:30 Toni Bieri, Ascom Tech, Bern Designing Protocol Software for ATM Networks: Experiences with an Object-Oriented Solution

11:30-12:00 Dr. Peter Vittali, Steria, Paris, Network Planning for the Swiss PTT OPTINET: Methodology and tool for Network Planning

12:00-12:30 Dr. Gerhard Mu"ller, Sietec Systemtechnik GmbH & Co. OHG, Berlin Introducing Object Technology in an Industrial Setting - Good News and Bad

12:30-13:30 --- lunch (on your own) ---

13:30-14:00 General Assembly of DBTA

14:00-15:00 Poster presentation session

15:00-16:30 Extended coffee break with poster discussions and vendors' exhibition

16:30-17:30 Panel


___________________________________________________________Abstracts of Tutorials


An Introduction to Object-Oriented DBMS Concepts.

Object-oriented database systems try to blend object-oriented concepts as they first emerged in programming languages with concepts from traditional (e.g network and relational) database management.

In this tutorial, we will first discuss some shortcomings of existing DBMS and their data mod els and thus motivate why there is a need for further progress in this area. We will then explain the salient features of object-oriented data base systems and demonstrate how they extend pre viously  known  concepts.  Finally,  we  point  out  their  relationship  to  existing  (i.e.  relational) database technology and speculate on future developments.

Prof.  Klaus  R.  Dittrich  is  professor  for  informatics  at  the  University  of  Zurich/  Switzerland where he heads off the database technology research group. Prior affiliations include Forsc hungszentrum  Informatik  (FZI)  at  the  University  of  Karlsruhe/Germany  and  IBM  Almaden Research  Center,  San  Jose/USA.  His  current  research  areas  comprise  object-oriented  and active database systems, DBMS architecture, and application of advanced database technol ogy where he is engaged in vari
ous projects, partly in cooperation with industry.

He has published and lectured extensively all over the world, mainly in the areas of database systems and software engineering. He is a consultant for various companies and government agencies in Switzerland, Germany and beyond.

Prof.  Dittrich  is  a  frequent  program  committee  member  for  all  major  database  conferences and reviews for all major journals in the field. He serves in various IFIP groups, is a member of SI, GI, ACM and the IEEE Computer Society, and has been elected to the board of trustees of the VLDB endowment in 1992. He is also co-chairing VLDB 1995 to be held in Zurich.


How to Develop Frameworks

This  tutorial  will  describe  a  process  for  developing  frameworks.    The  process  is  driven  by examples, which are used both to design a new framework and to document it when it is done. A framework is developed by generalizing and abstracting from examples.  The tutorial will show  how  standard  design  transformations  are  used  to  generalize  existing  systems,  making them more reusable and abstract.

It will discuss how to choose examples, how to manage the iteration that seems to be an inevi table part of framework development, and the importance of common design patterns that arise as a framework is being developed. Developing a framework is expensive, but it is valuable. This tutorial will help you to estimate the costs involved in developing a framework.  It will frankly discuss problems in paying for framework development, though unfortunately it does not offer any easy solutions.

Prof. Ralph Johnson has been, for the past 9 years, studying object-oriented technology and how it changes the way software is developed.  He has been involved in the development of an object-oriented  operating  system  (Choices),  compiler  (Typed  Smalltalk),  graphics  editor framework (HotDraw), music synthesis system (Kyma) and is currently working on a frame work for accounting.  He is on the faculty of the Department of Computer Science at the U. of Illinois  at  Urbana-Champaign  and  has  helped 
 organize  several  OOPSLA's,  including OOPSLA'93 as program chair.


Object-Orientation and Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

Geographic  Information  Systems  (GIS)  have  become  an  important  technology  to  store,  ana lyze, and present information with a spatial component. They are used for managing important elements  of  our  environment,  such  as  natural  resources,  rights  to  land,  utility  and  road  net works. They also increasingly serve as planning and management tools for the infrastructure and customer base of large enterprises.

Geographic applications have been among the early motivations for "non-standard" database technology and keep driving and evaluating much of the work on object-oriented databases. In recent times, object-oriented concepts have also proven beneficial to the design of user inter faces, application programming languages, and data transfer standards for GIS.

This tutorial will first provide a brief overview of GIS, leading to a discussion of the character istics of geographic data and operations and to key requirements for the use of object-oriented technology in this field. It will then present applications of object-oriented ideas to data mode ling, data transfers, and user interfaces for GIS, emphasizing their common aspects. The tuto rial  will  primarily  benefit  information  technology  professionals  with  an  interest  in  a challenging application do
main in general, or in geographic information management in par ticular.

Dr. Werner Kuhn is a researcher at the Department of Geoinformation of the Technical Uni versity  Vienna.  He  obtained  his  Ph.D.  from  ETH  Zurich  in  Surveying  Engineering  and  has been a post-doctoral research associate at the U.S. National Center for Geographic Informa tion and Analysis (NCGIA), University of Maine. He has published on data modeling and user interfaces for Geographic Information Systems (GIS).

Prof. Dr. Andrew U. Frank heads the Department of Geoinformation of the Technical Univer sity Vienna. He was one of the founders and associate directors of the U.S. National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis (NCGIA). His publications cover a broad range of top ics in the fields of databases, artificial intelligence, and user interfaces, and their application to Geographic Information Systems (GIS).


Managing Object-Oriented Projects

Software development projects have to be managed properly to obtain the most benefits from object-oriented technology.  The appropriate management structure for one organization may not be suitable for another.  This tutorial describes a set of frameworks that guide an organiza tion's decision making with respect to selecting an appropriate process model, reuse business model, team structure, training program, measurement strategy, and development methodolo gies.  It describes the pitfalls that attend obje
ct-oriented projects so that you can avoid them, and makes specific recommendations for introducing object-oriented technology into an organ ization.

Mr. Kenneth Rubin is Manager of Methodology Development at ParcPlace Systems where he manages  ParcPlace's  Object  Behavior  Analysis  and  Design  (OBA/D),  and  project  manage ment  methodologies  and  tools.    He  has  over  30  publications  on  object-oriented  technology, and  two  forthcoming  books  on  managing  object-oriented  projects  and  OBA/D.    Mr.  Rubin holds an M.S. in Computer Science from Stanford University.


_______________________________________________________Abstract of Conference Talks

Keynote Talk

Putting Objects To Work On A Massive Scale.

GTE is putting object-oriented (OO) technology to work, on a massive scale. What does this mean? What are the problems? How far have they progressed in four years?  GTE Telephone Operations, the world's fourth largest publicly owned telephone company, has embarked on a massive  re-engineering  program  of  the  entire  corporation.  The  plan  calls  for  the  supporting information systems to be cooperative, distributed, and object-oriented. The challenges include designing the target environment and migr
ating from the current, vast, legacy, $1billion/year, non-OO, information systems infrastructure to the target -- all of this in the face of wonderful claims for object-orientation and little, if any, concrete evidence of how to do it, let alone that it will work. How do you keep the corporation running while migrating the entire information systems infrastructure? How do you introduce or utilize object-orientation in a legacy environ ment? This presentation describes the vision, the challenges, and the ro
le of object-orientation in the evolving plan and the currently deployed solutions. The presentation will address core technology, systems management, distributed computing architectures, engineering, standards, and methodologies. All this is described in terms of vast-scale object-orientation and its role.

Dr. Michael L. Brodie heads the Distributed Object Computing Department (DOC) within the Computer and Intelligent Systems Laboratory of GTE Laboratories Inc., Waltham, Mass. He received  his  B.Sc.,  M.Sc.,  and  Ph.D.  from  the  University  of  Toronto,  Canada.  His  research interests include: next generation computing and applications, and relevant emerging technol ogies such as distributed object computing, interoperability, cooperative information systems, database technology, artificial intelligenc
e, programming languages, and computer communi cations/telecommunications.

He has a major concern for the social responsibility of his own work and that of computer sci ence as a whole. Michael has written and spoken out on this topic for many years. Michael is a on several boards including the VLDB Endowment, the ACM SIGMOD Advisory Committee, the Telecommunications Information Networking Architecture (TINA), and Cooperative Infor mation Systems (CoopIS). He has consulted to research advisory organizations of the govern ments  of  USA,  Canada,  France,  Italy,  Germany,  Colomb
ia,  Brasil,  Denmark,  Australia, Russia, Ukraine, and the EEC. Michael has authored over 70 books, journal articles, and refe reed conference papers. He has given invited lectures and short courses on Distributed Object Computing, Database Technology, Information Engineering, CASE, Integrating AI and Data base Technologies, Intelligent Information Systems, and Next Generation Database Technol ogy in over a dozen countries.



________________________________Experience Talks__________________________________


Designing Protocol Software for ATM Networks:
Experiences with an Object Oriented Solution.

Toni Bieri, Ascom Tech, Bern.

Independent of a  signalling protocol a few key components  (e.g. State, Events etc.) must be modelled. Our object oriented solution consists of a framework where a protocol-independent set  of  classes  together  with  a  set  of  protocol-  dependent  classes  (mostly  derived  from  the former  ones)  were  realised.  With  these  a  concrete  application  (the  ATM-Signalling  protocol Q.2931) was built. The architecture of this application, its classes and our experiences with the OO-approach are expl
ained.



Network Planning for the PTT Swiss OPTINET:
Methodology and tool for Network Planning.

Dr. Peter Vittali, Steria, Paris.

The evaluation of simulation of large private and public telecommunication networks involves computer tool support. In a highly competitive environment, customer requirements and techo logical parameters that impact the design of such networks are increasingly variable and unsta ble. Flexibility is thus the key characteristic of adequate tool support. The tool must be adapted rapidly to constantly changing specifications. Steria has decided to implement a highly flexi ble, generic network planning tool cal
led OPTINET by using an object-oriented database sys tem  (OODBS).  The  choice  of  the  O2  OODBS  was  mainly  conducted  by  the  need  of  highly integrated development tools including components such as GUI tools, SQL query, object-ori ented  programming  concepts  and  database  services.This  paper  is  intended  as  an  experience report. We first give a brief outlook on the O2 OODBS. Next, a couple of interesting architec tural features of the OPTINET tool are outlined, such as code generation an
d multi-user func tions.  Finally,  the  central  problems  and  experiences  when  using  OODBS  for  large  scale projects are resumed.



Introducing Object Technology in an Industrial Setting
- Good News and Bad.

Dr. Gerhard Mu"ller, Sietec Systemtechnik GmbH & Co. OHG, Berlin.

During  the  past  eight  years,  our  group  built  two  object-oriented  development  environments and supported their use in the development of real-world application systems in various appli cation domains. The talk will present the experiences we gained from supporting those appli cation development projects by training professional (old-hand) programmers in using object technology, guiding them through object-oriented design and hand-holding them when imple menting their design and debugging the code
 In general, we may summarize that our experi ences were more or less positive, however far away from the euphoric expectations currently generated in high-level management circles and mainly based on our more pragmatic approach which best reflects the needs of current practice instead of pure theory.



_____________________________________________________________How to attend:

Location

University of Zu"rich, Irchel Campus (please look for signposts to find the actual lecture halls). The campus is easily reached by tram (lines 7, 9, 10, 14, stops "Irchel" and/or "Milchbuck"); there is also a public underground parking ("Parkhaus Irchel"; parking fee).

Date

September 29 and 30, 1994

Prices

CHOOSE/DBTA member others Normal 150 200 Student 70 180 Dinner 60 60

Prices include coffees. If registered after August 31st, prices are increased by Fr. 20.--. For the students non-member, prices include the subscription to the SI and CHOOSE or DBTA.

Please pay only after you have been billed.

We would like to encourage all participants of the conference to actively take part by present ing a poster about their current work. People who contribute by presenting a poster are enti tled  to  a  free  conference  attendance.  Poster  presenters  should  immediately  contact:  Rachid Guerraoui, EPFL, DI-LSE, CH-1015 Lausanne; guerraoui@di.epfl.ch; 021/693 52 72.

Information

SI secretary, Tel: +41 1 371 7342