Announcement and Call for Papers Third Annual Conference on The Pattern Languages of Programs September 4-6th, 1996 Monticello, Illinois, USA http://www.cs.wustl.edu/~schmidt/jointPLoP-96.html ====================================================================== IMPORTANT DATES o Submissions due June 10th, 1996 o Notification to authors July 15th, 1996 o Final pre-conference draft due July 29th, 1996 o Conference September 4-6th, 1996 o Proceedings draft due October 14th, 1996 PRELIMINARY PROGRAM COMMITTEE Program Chair: Douglas C. Schmidt, Washington University Conference Chair: Brian Foote, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Bruce Anderson, IBM Kent Beck, First Class Software Frank Buschmann, Siemens Research Ward Cunningham, Cunningham & Cunningham, Inc. Erich Gamma, IFA Consulting Ralph Johnson, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Doug Lea, SUNY Oswego Robert Martin, RCM consulting Linda Rising, AG Communication Systems John Vlissides, IBM Research Others to be announced soon... OVERVIEW Patterns capture the essence of successful solutions to problems that arise when building software systems. A pattern describes a family of solutions to recurring problems. Patterns form a language when woven together to provide a sequence or a process for the orderly resolution of problems. Such pattern languages guide analysts, designers, and programmers to produce workable software that solves common organizational and development problems. Mature engineering disciplines draw from a collective vocabulary of successful solutions to known architectural problems. Automobile designers don't design cars using the laws of physics, they adapt adequate solutions from among those known to work well enough. The extra few percent of performance available by starting from scratch typically isn't worth the cost. Patterns can form the basis for such a shared architectural consensus. If software is to become an engineering discipline, successful practices must be systematically documented and widely disseminated. Once expressed in the pattern form, solutions may be recast in new contexts to facilitate the widespread reuse of (micro-)architecture, detailed designs, algorithms, implementations, and organization structures. Patterns are important tools for documenting successful practices and improving software quality by addressing fundamental challenges in software system development. Challenges addressed by design patterns include communication of architectural knowledge among developers; accommodating a new design paradigm or architectural style; resolving non-functional forces such as reusability, portability, and extensibility; and avoiding development traps and pitfalls that have traditionally been learned only by experience. PLoP invites you to add your expertise to the growing corpus of patterns. PLoP's focus is improving the expression of patterns. You will have the opportunity to refine and extend your patterns with help from knowledgeable and supportive fellow pattern enthusiasts. In addition to intensive pattern review sessions, participants at the conference will have many opportunities to discuss other aspects of writing, teaching, and applying patterns. Every effort will be made to provide an informal and creative atmosphere. The committee is open to out-of-the-ordinary submissions (write first) so long as they, like patterns, celebrate that elusive quality called "good design." In the past two years, the international conference on Pattern Languages of Programming has been held solely in Allerton Park, Illinois in the United States. However, patterns are a hot topic in the software community around the world, particularly in Europe. Therefore, this year the Pattern Languages of Programs conference will also be held in Kloster Irsee, Germany, July 10-14, 1996. Both PLoP conferences will be closely coordinated. There will be a joint program committee and authors can decide which conference they like to submit their papers. The editing process of the proceedings will also be coordinated. The proccedings will be published by Addison-Wesley in their Pattern Languages of Programming Design series. Complete information on both PLoP conferences is available at: http://www.cs.wustl.edu/~schmidt/jointPLoP-96.html CONFERENCE TOPICS All aspects of programs and their development are suitable topics for review at the conference. Patterns might be so specific as to name particular objects, interface elements or implementation structures in a solution. They could describe configurations of hardware, software, organizations, and individuals. Patterns may or may not be specific to a domain or programming language. The PLoP conference will focus on concrete patterns and pattern languages spanning a range of topics, including (but not limited to) the following: o Organization and development processes o Domain-specific software architectures o Human/computer interface design o Real-time systems o Distributed and parallel processing o Client/server programming o Effective programming practices o Simulations We will make a particular effort at PLoP '96 to begin to better integrate the patterns that have emerged over the last two years at PLoP, and elsewhere. Submissions that refine, extend, connect, and integrate this body of work are encouraged. We hope as well to encourage collaboration among people that share common architectural interests. CONFERENCE FORMAT The centerpiece of PLoP will once again be a series of writer's workshops. At a typical conference, the author of a paper presents his or her work, while the audience silently observes. In contrast, during a writer's workshop, the author silently observes, while the workshop participants discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each paper, accentuating positive aspects and suggesting improvements in content and style. Based on experience and feedback from PLoP attendees during the past two years, the PLoP writer's workshop format has been remarkably effective for both authors and workshop participants. This year, we plan to supplement the workshops with other activities such as: o How to present patterns effectively -- e.g., we'll examine writing, typographic issues, as well as electronic media, such as the World Wide Web. o How to teach patterns effectively o Lessons learned applying patterns in production software environments We strongly encourage attendees to submit papers in order to benefit from the insights and constructive feedback from their peers. However, the PLoP conferences are open to everyone. Over the last two years, roughly half of the participants at PLoP were not pattern authors. HOW AND WHERE TO SUBMIT PAPERS Authors should submit an electronic copy of the full paper, in English, to the program chair by no later than June 10th, 1996. Email to plop96@cs.wustl.edu. Papers must be formatted in Postscript with only the most comprehensive pattern languages to exceed 10 pages. Submissions must be prefaced with ASCII text containing the paper's title, authors' names, contact name, email address, postal address, phone number, and a 100-word abstract. We will notify you as to whether your paper will be reviewed at the conference by July 15th, 1996. Revisions for draft distribution to registrants are due July 29th, 1996. Final versions for papers selected for publication in the proceedings are due 14 October, 1996, roughly one month after the conference . Our publisher requires that papers accepted for publication in the proceedings be in Microsoft Word format. The conference prefers papers written in the pattern form. However, we will accept some papers discussing aspects of the form or experience using it. The actual subject of patterns need not be original. Rather, preference will be shown to authors best able to exploit the form in the field of computing. Very liberal revision policies will insure authors can fold ideas gained at the conference into the published proceedings. Papers must not be published or under consideration elsewhere in the same or similar form. Obtain guidelines for authors or assistance in electronic submission from the conference or program chair. CONFERENCE LOCATION The conference will be held at Allerton House, a mansion on a large, mostly wooded estate that is owned by the University of Illinois. Accommodations will be provided on-site. Additional accomodations will be available in the nearby village of Monticello or in Champaign-Urbana. Airport limousine service between Champaign's Willard Airport and the conference site will be provided. QUESTIONS General conference questions: Brian Foote foote@cs.uiuc.edu Dept. of Computer Science University of Illinois 1304 W. Springfield Ave. Urbana, IL 61801 (TEL): (217) 333-3411 http://www.cpl.uiuc.edu/~plop Submission questions: Dr. Douglas C. Schmidt schmidt@cs.wustl.edu Jolley Hall, Room 536 Computer Science Dept Washington University Campus Box 1045 One Brookings Drive St. Louis, Missouri 63130-4899 (TEL): (314) 935-7538 (FAX): (314) 935-7302