List of Tutorials

Krzysztof Czarnecki: Model-Based Evolution

Abstract: Any new software engineering method usually works perfectly the first time it is applied. The method guides the developers in producing multiple artifacts such as documentation and code. The real trouble starts when any of the artifacts need to be evolved. As a consequence, other artifacts need to be co-evolved in order to reestablish consistency. The evolution challenge applies to model-driven development, too. However, models can help to make it less painful. In this tutorial, I will analyze evolution in model-driven development and present several techniques to address the challenge, such as guided model editing, multi-level customization, reverse engineering, and round-trip engineering.

Bio: Krzysztof Czarnecki is an Assistant Professor at the University of Waterloo, Canada. Before coming to Waterloo, he spent eight years at DaimlerChrysler Research working on the practical applications of generative programming. He is co-author of the book "Generative Programming" (Addison-Wesley, 2000), which is regarded as founding work of the area and is used as a graduate text at universities around the world. He was a keynote speaker the 2006 International Conference on Generative Programming and Component Engineering (GPCE) and will be the program chair for MoDELS 2008. His current work focuses on realizing the synergies between generative and model-driven software development..

Jean-Marie Favre: Software Linguistics and Language Engineering

Abstract: The notion of language is central to transformational technics, MDE and informatics. Language descriptions includes grammars, but also metamodels, schemas, ontologies, DSL, etc. The many stakeholders dealing with large software systems have different needs in terms of languages, leading to a software tower of babel. "Software languages" are languages too and should be studied as such. This tutorial revisit what linguistics could bring to informatics, and this is much more than the theory of formal languages. We coin Software Linguistics the scientific study of "software languages", and Language Engineering, the engineering discipline aiming at designing, compositing and evolving these languages over time.

Bio: Jean-Marie Favre is Assistant Professor at the University of Grenoble, France. His research work aims at integrating reverse engineering and model driven engineering applied to large scale software products. His experience in language (reverse) engineering and evolution comes both from academia and collaborations with very large software companies. He is member of various networks on software evolution, reverse engineering and MDE. He co-organized various international events and workshops in particular the ATEM series. He served as PC of several international conferences. He is co-author of a book in french "Beyond MDA : Model Driven Engineering".

Stan Jarzabek: Software Reuse Beyond Components with XVCL

Abstract: The main challenge in reuse is handling variability - similarities and differences across software systems (e.g., Product Line members). The reuse objective is to exploit similarities to avoid repetitive development work. Software architecture and component-based approaches are important means to address reuse goal and they are covered in the course. At the same time, we point to limitations of these approaches and show a pragmatic way to better exploit similarity patterns in software, considerably raising reuse benefit: We do initial design using conventional programming methods, and then apply generative technique of XVCL to build generic structures to unify similarity patterns for which conventional techniques fail to provide effective generic solutions. By applying such mixed-strategy approach, on average, we reduce conceptual complexity (and maintenance effort) of a program solution by 60%, raising the levels of reuse by similar rates.

Bio: Stan Jarzabek is an Associate Professor at the Department of Computer Science, School of Computing, National University of Singapore (NUS). He spent 12 years of his professional career in industry and 20 years in academia. Stan is interested in all aspects of software design, in particular techniques for design of adaptable, easy to change (high-variability) software. He gave 2-day courses on product line approach for industries and at major international conferences. Stan was a General Chair for GPCE'06, 5th Int. Conf. on Generative Programming and Component Engineering, October 2006, Portland, Oregon. He published over 100 papers at international conferences and journals (recent paper won ACM Distinguished Paper Award and two others were selected as best papers). In May 2007, CRC will publish Stan's book: Effective Software Maintenance and Evolution: Reuse-based Approach. He was a Principal Investigator in a multi-national collaborative project involving universities (NUS and the University of Waterloo), and companies in Singapore and Toronto.

Oege de Moor: OO queries over OO programs with .QL

Abstract: Programs are relations: inheritance between classes, the called-by relation between methods, and so on. Many tasks in software engineering benefit by exposing those relations via queries, e.g. finding common bugs, computing metrics, and identifying all locations impacted by a proposed change. We introduce the .QL query language for expressing such queries. Next, participants will be guided through the use of .QL on a substantial project, writing queries of their own in a hands-on session. Finally we outline how .QL capitalises on 30+ years of theoretical work by others in the databases community, and some more recent research in programming tools. A preview of the tools used in these lectures can be found at http://semmle.com.

Bio: Oege de Moor is the CEO of Semmle Ltd, the company that develops .QL and SemmleCode. He started his career in programming in 1982 with the development of a word processor for Arabic and Hebrew. After an undergraduate degree in computer Science at Utrecht (the Netherlands), he did his graduate work at Oxford. At present he is a professor of computer science there, and a fellow of Magdalen College. He has held visiting appointments at Chalmers University (Sweden), the University of Tokyo (Japan), and Microsoft Research (Redmond and Cambridge).

José Nuno Oliveira: Data Transformation by Calculation

Abstract: This tutorial addresses the foundations of data-model transformation. A catalog of transformations is presented which includes abstraction and representation relations and associated constraints, all expressed in an algebraic style via the pointfree-transform, a technique resembling the Laplace transform in mathematics: predicates are converted to binary relation terms (of the algebra of programming) in a 2-level style encompassing both data and operations. Data-calculation, which also includes transformation of recursive data models into "flat" database schemas, has been in use at Minho as alternative to standard database design and is the foundation of the "2LT bundle" of tools available from the UMinho Haskell libraries.

Bio: José Nuno Oliveira is associate professor at the Theory and Formal Methods Group of Minho University. He graduated from the U.Porto and received his PhD in Computer Science from the U.Manchester, where he became interested in formal methods and transformational techniques. He is a member of the Formal Methods Europe (FME) association, where he convenes a subgroup on education. Since his PhD work on data-flow program transformation, he became interested in data refinement techniques and calculational database design. His research is currently focussed on the application of the algebra of programming to abstract modelling and model-driven software design.

Markus Pueschel: How to Write Fast Numerical Code

Abstract: The complexity of modern microarchitectures poses a major challenge for developers of high performance numerical software. To run fast, it is not sufficient that a program is based on an algorithm with minimal operations count. Various other optimizations need to be performed including loop unrolling, adaptation to the memory hierarchy, and the use of special instruction sets. We introduce these and other techniques using the discrete Fourier transform and matrix-matrix multiplication as examples. Further, we overview Spiral, a program generation system for transforms, which performs these optimizations automatically to produce code that rivals the best human-tuned code in performance.

Bio: Markus Pueschel is an Associate Research Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. He received his Diploma (M.Sc.) in Mathematics and his Doctorate (Ph.D.) in Computer Science, in 1995 and 1998, respectively, both from the University of Karlsruhe, Germany. His research interests include computing, algorithms, applied mathematics, and signal processing theory/software/hardware.

Walid Taha: A Practical Guide to Building Staged Interpreters

Abstract: Writing a staged interpreter is a strikingly direct way to build compilers. After a brief introduction to staging, we consider how to apply this technique to a series interpreters for increasingly more sophisticated languages. We see how popular language features can be modeled in an interpreter, and how this affects the staging process. The tutorial does train you in an immediately applicable skill. But more importantly, it aims to bring to light a number of profound insights on the utility and synergy of a range of ideas from programming languages theory.

Bio: Walid Taha lead the development of the semantics of staged computation, type systems for multi-stage languages, and implementing multi-stage languages like MetaOCaml and MetaOCaml Concoqtion. Currently, he leads the Resource-aware Programming (RAP) research group at Rice University, Houston, TX. He is the principal investigator on a number of NSF, Texas ATP, and SRC research grants and contracts on various aspects of resource aware programming. Taha is actively involved in development of both the embedded software and generative programming research communities.

Eelco Visser: Domain-Specific Language Engineering

Abstract: The goal of domain-specific languages (DSLs) is to increase the productivity of software engineers by abstracting from low-level boilerplate code. Introduction of DSLs in the software development process requires a smooth workflow for the production of DSLs themselves. This tutorial gives an overview of all aspects of DSL engineering: domain analysis, language design, syntax definition, code generation, deployment, and evolution, discussing research challenges on the way. The concepts are illustrated with DSLs for web applications built using several DSLs for DSL engineering: SDF for syntax definition, Stratego/XT for code generation, and Nix for software deployment.

Bio: Eelco Visser is Associate Professor at Delft University of Technology. His research is motivated by improving the productivity of software engineers through tool support and better programming abstractions, and has centered around tools for language engineering, with contributions in syntax definition, program transformation, domain-specific languages, and software deployment. His contributions include scannerless generalized LR parsing, generic traversal strategies, and dynamic rewrite rules. With his students he has designed and built a number of language engineering and software deployment tools, including the syntax definition formalism SDF, the Stratego/XT language and toolset for program transformation, and the Nix software deployment system.

Slides: pdf.