[FOM] CfP: Second Symposium on History and Philosophy of Programming

[gprimiero at libero.it]

Apologies for Multiple Postings


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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)