APL96: Call for Participation

Transcribed from the printed issue; not yet reviewed. Read it in the PDF of the issue, page 6

Invitation and Call for Participation¶

Designing the Future

July 28 to August 1, 1996, University of Lancaster, UK

We are pleased to announce the convening of the 1996 International Conference on APL, which will be sponsored jointly by ACM/SigAPL, the British APL Association, and the APL Club of Germany. The theme of the conference is Designing the Future. This year, the focus will be on tools, techniques, technologies, and applications that bring APL to the leading edge of computer technology. The design methods and distributed systems development techniques to be highlighted point to a bright future for APL as we anticipate the millennium.

The APL96 Program Committee seeks papers that showcase the place of array programming languages in the technological tools available for research, development, design, and delivery in any discipline. Papers focusing on APL, J, or other array programming languages are solicited. Tracks with specific industry focus will provide to participants the opportunity to explore these tools in depth with colleagues sharing their interests.

Complementing the contributed papers, APL96 will offer additional value to software developers and applications designers interested in APL for the tasks at hand. Plenary sessions will feature prominent speakers from several domains. Heinz Roggenkemper (leader of the distributed systems project at SAP, one of the world's most successful providers of enterprise-wide software systems) will speak on the use of APL in developing the Distributed Architect tool for the SAP system. A representative from Bang & Olufsen will speak on the use of constraint logic programming in the HiFi house of the future.

A focus of the conference will be a suite of workshops designed to offer participants opportunity for in-depth discussion of topics important in designing the future using APL. A full schedule of tutorials for users of APL who are new to the advanced technologies will offer additional opportunity for technical education.

Proposed Workshops, Tutorials, and Presentations¶

• Nested Arrays — Get it Right First Time! will build on work done at APL95. Norman Thomson and Phil Benkard (APL2) and Chris Burke (J) will speak.
• Designing for Windows 95. How to get that elusive Microsoft Logo on your software! Adrian Smith and Duncan Pearson will lead a Dyalog APL stream, supported by Dyadic Systems, and Strand Software will run a similar session on programming for Windows in J.
• Communication among Co-operating Systems. Insight and Soliton will run workshops on ODBC. Timo Laurmaa will show us how to do it "in the raw" with TCP/IP and shared variables under APL2. Ed Shaw will run a session on Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) which is the inter-company standard for transfer of orders and other supply-chain data.
• Algorithms and other Tools of the Trade. The Bang & Olufsen session will lead into a hands-on workshop. Andreas Geyer-Schulz will expand on the Genetic Algorithms work he presented at APL95. There will also be sessions on business graphics, forecasting, and algorithms used in the financial and insurance industries.

Contributed papers will be accepted on any topic relevant to the conference theme, but are particularly sought in the areas outlined above. Papers focusing on APL, J, or other array programming languages will be considered for inclusion in the conference.

Other Participation¶

All suggestions and contributions for panels, workshops, and tutorials are welcomed by the conference programme chairmen. A software exchange will offer a library of useful APL tools, for which contributions are also sought.

Paper Submission¶

Please notify either programme chairman via e-mail of your intention to submit a paper as soon as possible. Prospective authors will be given complete formatting instructions for draft and final paper submission.

Draft papers (not longer than 5000 words) are due no later than February 29, 1996. To avoid mailing delays, submission by e-mail is encouraged. Notification of the programme committee decision will be sent to authors by March 15, 1996.

Camera-ready copy of final papers must be in the hands of the proceedings editor no later than May 10, 1996. Editor James Boyd will assist authors with preparation of final, camera-ready copy from electronic text. Authors of papers included in the proceedings should plan to present them at the conference.

The APL96 Software Exchange:¶

SIGAPL invites you to send new and useful software to the APL96 Software Exchange. The Software Exchange is a good way to make your, or your firm's, skills and products more widely known. New GUI software is especially welcome. Software from prior APL conferences is also welcome if it has been significantly improved or updated.

Software received by April 30, 1996 will be available to attendees at APL96. The conference package plus later submissions will be available by about October 1996 from SIGAPL, the BBS\APL, and via ftp at watservl.uwaterloo.ca. Small files via UUENCODE, or further info, see addresses. Software in APL, J, and related array languages is invited. English is preferred, and other languages are also welcome. Include an ASCII read.me (lisez.moi, lis-mich.dok) file that briefly describes what the software does, and what software and hardware is needed to use it.

This year we want to try something new. If possible, please also include an APLASCII (v1.4) version of any software that you submit (ftp APLASCII for your interpreter via watservel.uwaterloo.ca). You must include written permission to distribute any copyright software. Without permission, we can't distribute copyright software.

Conference Chairman:
Dieter Lattermann
[address, telephone number and e-mail address omitted]

Programme and Proceedings¶

Co-chair: J. Philip Benkard, IBM (Retired) (USA)
[e-mail address omitted]

Co-chair: Adrian Smith, Causeway Graphical Systems (UK)
[e-mail address omitted]

Proceedings Editor: James Boyd
[e-mail address omitted]

Volunteer Helpers:
Robert Bernecky, Snake Island Research, Inc. (Canada) [e-mail address omitted]
James A. Brown, IBM Corp.(USA) [e-mail address omitted]
Robert G. Brown, Lingo Allegro, Inc. (USA) [e-mail address omitted]
David Eastwood, MicroAPL (UK) MicroAPL@microapl.demon.co.uk
Garth Foster, Syracuse University (USA) [e-mail address omitted]
Morten Kromberg, Insight Systems (Denmark) insight@inet.uni-c.dk
Eric Lescasse, Uniware (France) [e-mail address omitted]
John Scholes, Dyadic Systems, Ltd. (UK) [e-mail address omitted]
Lynne C. Shaw, Consultant (USA) [e-mail address omitted]
Alan Sykes, European Business Mgmt School (UK) [e-mail address omitted]

Postal addresses for abstracts, draft papers, software exchange contributions, and other offers of participation:

Papers (USA)
J.P. Benkard
[address omitted]

Papers (UK)
Adrian Smith
Brook House
Gilling East
YORK YO6 4JJ UK

Software Exchange (3.5" disk):
Dick Holt
[address omitted]