[SIGCIS-Members] CfP: 2nd Symposium on History and Philosophy of Programming

Thu Oct 3 03:22:07 PDT 2013

Dear all,

I hope the following cfp is of interest to some of you,

very best wishes,
Liesbeth.

Apologies for Multiple Postings
--------------------------
/Call for Papers/
Second Symposium on History and Philosophy of Programming

www.computing-conference.ugent.be/hapop2

At AISB-50, Goldsmiths, London
1-4, April 2014

As part of the AISB-50 Annual Convention 2014 to be held at Goldsmiths, 
University of London, on April 1st--4th 2014

www.aisb.org.uk/events/aisb14

The convention is organised by the Society for the Study of Artificial 
Intelligence and Simulation of Behaviour  (AISB)

http://www.aisb.org.uk/

Overview
The history and philosophy of computing only started to develop as real 
disciplines in the '80s and '90s of the previous century, with the 
foundation of journals (e.g. the IEEE Annals on the History of 
Computing, Minds and Machines and the like) and associations (SIGCIS, 
IACAP, . . . ), and the organization of conferences and workshops on a 
regular basis. A historical awareness of the evolution of computing not 
only helps to clarify the complex structure of the computing sciences, 
but it also provides an insight in what computing was, is and maybe 
could be in the future. Philosophy, on the other hand, helps to tackle 
some of the fundamental problems of computing. The aim of this symposium 
is to zoom into one fundamental aspect of computing, that is the 
foundational and the historical problems and developments related to the 
science of programming.
This is the Second Symposium on History and Philosophy of Programming, 
following the first edition organized in 2012 at the AISB/IACAP Joint 
Convention in Birmingham, UK.

It is supported by the Commission on the History and Philosophy of 
Computing (http://www.hapoc.ugent.be/home).

A historical awareness of the evolution of computing not only helps to 
clarify the complex structure of the computing sciences, but it also 
provides an insight in what computing was, is and maybe could be in the 
future. Philosophy, on the other hand, helps to tackle some of the 
fundamental problems of computing. The aim of this symposium is to zoom 
into one fundamental aspect of computing, that is the foundational and 
the historical problems and developments related to programming.

Topics of Interest
That a logico-mathematical-physical object called program is so 
controversial, even though its very nature is mostly hidden away, is 
rooted in the range of problems, processes and objects that can be 
solved, simulated, approximated and generated by way of its execution. 
Given its widespread impact on our lives, it becomes a responsibility of 
the philosopher and the historian to study the science of programming. 
The historical and philosophical reflection on the science of 
programming is the main topic at the core of this workshop and we expect 
contributions (talks) in the following aspects (and their connections):

1.    The history of computational systems, machines and programs
2.    Foundational issues and paradigms of programming
3.    Methodology of designing, teaching and learning programming

We believe the scientific community needs a deep understanding and 
critical view of the problems related to the scientific paradigm 
represented by the science of programming. Possible and in no way 
exclusive questions that might be of relevance to this Symposium are:

.    What was and is the relation between hardware and software 
developments?
.    How did the notion of 'program' changed since the 40s?
.    How important has been the hands-off vs. the hands-on approach for 
the development of programming?
.    How did models of computability like Church's lambda-calculus 
influence the development of programming languages?
.    Is programming a science or a technology?
.    What are the novel and most interesting approaches to the design of 
programs?
.    What is correctness for a program?  Issues in Type-checking, 
Model-checking, etc.
.    How do we understand programs as syntactical-semantical objects?
.    What is the nature of the relation between algorithms and 
programs?  What is a program?
.    How can epistemology profit from the understanding of programs' 
behavior and structure?
.    What legal and socio-economical issues are involved in the 
creation, patenting or free-distribution of programs?
.    How is programming to be taught?

Submission and Publication Details
Submissions must be full (short) papers and should be sent via EasyChair:

https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=hapop2

Text editor templates from a previous convention can be found at:

http://www.aisb.org.uk/convention/aisb08/download.html

We request that submitted papers are limited to eight pages. Each paper 
will receive at least two reviews. Selected papers will be published in 
the general proceedings of the AISB Convention, with the proviso that at 
least ONE author attends the symposium in order to present the paper and 
participate in general symposium activities.

Important Dates

     Full paper submission deadline: *3 January 2014 *
     Notification of acceptance/rejections: 6 February 2014
     Final version of accepted papers: 24 february 2014
     Convention: 1-4 April 2014 (symposium date tbc)

Additional Information
Please note that there will be separate proceedings for each symposium, 
produced before the convention. Each delegate will receive a memory 
stick containing the proceedings of all the symposia. In previous years 
there have been awards for the best student paper, and limited student 
bursaries. These details will be circulated as and when they become 
available. Authors of a selection of the best papers will be invited to 
submit an extended version of the work to a journal special issue.

Symposium organisers

dr. Liesbeth De Mol
elizabeth.demol at ugent.be
UMR 8163 - Savoir, Textes, Languages
Université de Lille 3 Bt.B4
Rue du Barreau BP 60149
59653 Villeneuve d'Ascq Cedex, France

dr. Giuseppe Primiero
G.Primiero at mdx.ac.uk
website: http://www.cs.mdx.ac.uk/people/giuseppe-primiero/
Department of Computer Science
Middlesex University
the Borroughs
NW4 4BT, London, UK

Symposium Website:
www.computing-conference.ugent.be/hapop2

Programme Committee
G. Alberts (Amsterdam) - TBC
M. Campbell-Kelly (Warwick)
L. Corry (Tel Aviv)
L. de Mol (Lille)
H. Durnova (Brno)
R. Kahle (Lisbon)
B. Loewe (Amsterdam)
G. Primiero (Middlesex London)
M. Tedre (Helsinki)
R. Turner (Essex)
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