General talk about software patterns

["M.E. Fayad" <mefayad AT gmail.com>]

The First International Workshop on Patterns Languages:
Addressing Challenges

PLAC 2007

Call for Papers

Montréal,  Canada, October 21, 2007
 (in conjunction with OOPSLA 2007)

http://www.oopsla.org/oopsla2007 (OOPSLA 2007 Link)
http://www.oopsla.org/oopsla2007/index.php?page=sub/&id=150 (Workshop Link 1)
http://www.engr.sjsu.edu/~fayad/workshops/PLAC07 (Workshop Link 2)
http://www.vrlsoft.com/workshops/PLAC07 (Workshop Link 3)

INTRODUCTION

A pattern language consists of a cascade or hierarchy of parts, linked
closely together by patterns, which solve generically recurring
problems that are associated with the parts. Each pattern has a title,
and collectively the titles form a language for design [1]. Pattern
Languages are simply a collection of interrelated patterns [2]. These
interrelated patterns are combined in any way and combination to
create new environments, where practitioners can solve
context-specific problems.  Precisely, the concept of pattern
languages has invaded over into the software engineering field, to
describe prior experiences and the processes that stem from them, in a
very simple language, where patterns are tactfully woven as a whole,
and can be combined in any manner to solve a particular and complex
problem.  Yet, this process is still done in an ad-hoc manner and is
not straightforward enough, to ease and speed up the software
development process.

Thus, this workshop is driven forward by three main questions. First,
how can we classify, develop, and utilize analysis and design patterns
together towards the path of a problem resolution? Second, what is the
"behind-the-" language that guides the sewing of patterns together as
a whole? And third, how can we overcome and face challenges, other
than patterns composition problems (patterns traceability, etc.) that
can hinder the development of a system of patterns? The inherent
inability to answer these questions detrimentally impacts the
understanding of how to put patterns in real practice, and  will
therefore  make software patterns' use more complex than it should.


OBJECTIVE AND MOTIVATION

Building high quality systems is not an easy exercise, specifically
when several factors can undermine their quality success, such as
cost, time, and lack of systematic approaches. The potential promise
of using software patterns in software development to deal with these
aforementioned obstacles, has led software practitioners to
steadfastly believe in the power of pattern languages, as the means
for constructing complex systems in a constrained environment.

Software Patterns, along with Pattern Languages, have recently
attracted software practitioners for more than a decade. They have
seen software patterns and pattern languages as really promising
techniques that ease and speed up their software development [2, 3, 4,
and 5]. However, developing robust software patterns and pattern
languages has not reached the expected ease and flexibility it should
have been, when dealing with determined problems; instead, they
construct models that specifically lack some essential qualities that
diminish the overall quality of the system rather than improving it
[6].

The concept of Pattern Languages [3, 7, 8, and 9] is spilling over
into the software engineering field, to highlight software
development's prior experiences or best practices, using a coherent
language that can be used for both discussing about a particular
problem and also in creating new environments from the patterns it
conveys.   This language works by connecting a collection of patterns,
as if they were in a detailed, narrated story.  Each of the patterns
in the collection is an insightful and a novel way to manage or solve
a set of recurrent problems in a particular context [2, 3, and 5]. As
a whole, they make clearly visible both the knowledge that is
pertinent to a particular domain, and the solutions for a set of
recurrent problems.

Pattern languages have emerged as a promising classification technique
and in providing ways to build frameworks. However, there area number
of problems [10], such as:

1.        Context's missing indicators/guidelines for in-context
patterns selection within the pattern language.
2.        Classifications of patterns' rationale within the pattern
language structure is also missing.
3.        Traceability is lost, especially when dealing with deeper
levels of pattern language implementation.
4.        No systematic way for compositing these patterns, similar or
different, to build software architectures
5.        There is a loss of generality in traditional pattern languages.
6.        Pattern languages struggles and conflicts in providing full
software maintainability and stability.
7.        How pattern languages deal with the problem they address is
neither straightforward nor easy.
8.        There is no set classification in pattern languages.
9.        Pattern languages don't distinguish between associate and
remote knowledge.

WORKSHOP CHALLENGES

The workshop will address pattern languages' challenges and debate
several issues related to the following questions.  We want
researchers, framework developers, and application developers to
discuss and debate the following questions related to:

I.        Pattern Languages Creation and Development
a.        Leaving career experience claim on the side, can you show
how to create and develop pattern languages?
b.        What are the bases of creating pattern Languages?
c.        Are there guidelines, methodologies, and/or processes for
pattern language creations and developments?
d.        Would you show an example or two of systematic and
non-systematic pattern languages?
e.        What is the starting point of any pattern language?
f.        What are the components of any pattern language?
g.        What kind of patterns that appear in pattern languages?

II.        Pattern Languages Selection Process:
a.        How does one select analysis and design patterns to create a
pattern language?
b.        What is the basis for selecting these patterns into the
pattern language?
c.        If someone would like to build a system from patterns, how
does he/she select patterns from the pattern language?
d.        What kind of patterns should one select to build a system
from patterns?
e.        Is there a guideline for the selection process from a
pattern language?

III.        Patterns Languages Composition
a.        How does one integrate the selected pattern languages to
build any given system? Or how does one compose any system from one or
more pattern languages?
b.        What are the various claims related to pattern languages
composition? Are they really true?
c.        Are there any guidelines or techniques for pattern languages
composition? Would you illustrate how to use them?

IV.        System of Patterns and General Reuse
a.        What do we mean, when we say "systems of patterns"?
b.        Are the various claims related to building any system from
pattern languages reasonable?
c.        How to develop pattern repositories and catalogs, from which
pattern languages can be retrieved and reused?
d.        Are there any automated approaches for patterns using
languages mining and integration?
e.        What other concepts will help assist build any system from
pattern languages?
f.        Can patterns within a given pattern language appear in other
remote pattern languages?
g.        Is it possible to create many architectures from a given
pattern languages? How many architectures?
h.        Can we measure the ROI from the pattern language of a given domain?
i.        Is it possible to measure or perform cost estimation using
pattern languages?
j.        It is possible to insert the quality factors with the
pattern languages? How?

V.        Impacts
a.        What is the impact of software stability on the above
mentioned challenges and software quality factors?

More information will be available at:
http://www.oopsla.org/oopsla2007 (OOPSLA 2007 Link)
http://www.oopsla.org/oopsla2007/index.php?page=sub/&id=150 (Workshop Link 1)
http://www.engr.sjsu.edu/~fayad/workshops/PLAC07 (Workshop Link 2)
http://www.vrlsoft.com/workshops/PLAC07 (Workshop Link 3)


PAPER FORMAT AND SUBMISSIONS

Developers and programmers who are interested in participating in the
workshop, are requested to submit a short position paper (3-5 pages),
or regular workshop paper (limited to 6-15 pages, double spaced,
including figures) representing views and experiences relevant to the
given discussion topic. The title page must include a maximum 150-word
abstract, five keywords, full mailing address, e-mail address, phone
number, fax number, and a designated contact author. Workshop papers
will be selected depending on their originality, quality and relevance
to the workshop.  All submitted papers will also be evaluated
according to its originality, significance, correctness, presentation
and relevance. Papers should be submitted electronically at:
 http://www.oopsla.org/oopsla2007/index.php?page=sub/&id=150.  Please
follow the instructions given on the web page. Camera Ready
manuscripts must be submitted following ACM SIGPLAN conference
proceedings style and guidelines. We also encourage authors to present
novel and fresh ideas, critiques of existing work, and practical
studies.

Each accepted workshop paper must be presented in the person, either
by the author or one of the co-authors.  To foster and promote lively
discussions, authors are encouraged to present open questions and one
or two main statements for discussion at the workshop.  Submissions
must be made either in MS-Word or RTF formats (please, DO NOT compress
files).

Depending on the total number and spread of contributions, the scope
may be narrowed down to ensure an effective communication and
information sharing session. Accepted position papers will be
distributed to the participants, before the workshop and made
generally available through the WWW and FTP.   Accepted papers will be
published in the Workshop Proceedings. At least one of the authors of
each accepted paper must register as a full delegate in the workshop.
Selected papers will be published in the online Journal of
International Journal Of Patterns (IJOP) www.ijop.org.

WORKSHOP PARTICIPATION

People who are interested in participating in the workshop, without
making any submissions are requested to fill out the participation
form and e-mail to any of the workshop chairs.
-------------------------------------------------
PARTICIPATION FORM:
Name and Affiliation:
Position:
Address:
E-mail:
URL:
Areas of interest:
Reasons for Participating?
-------------------------------------------------
Please note that registration is mandatory, in order to participate in
the workshop.  An early registration discount is available for all
desired participants.  An overhead projector and a flipchart will be
available to all participants.

For more information please visit any of the following websites:

http://www.oopsla.org/oopsla2007 (OOPSLA 2007 Link)
http://www.oopsla.org/oopsla2007/index.php?page=sub/&id=150 (Workshop Link 1)
http://www.engr.sjsu.edu/~fayad/workshops/PLAC07 (Workshop Link 2)
http://www.vrlsoft.com/workshops/PLAC07 (Workshop Link 3)

You may also contact the organizers, either by e mail or by phone.

PROPOSED AGENDA

1. Welcome and introduction of participants. The organizers will first
provide  a short overview of all open issues and also of the main
arguments arising out of the position papers. (Estimated time: 20-30
minutes)

2. Selected authors (who'll be representing the main trends) will be
allotted  20 minutes to explain how their position relates to other
positions, and what each one of them sees as the three major issues.
We expect about 5-10 position papers in this session.  (Estimated
time: 120-130 minutes)

3. The organizers will propose an identification process of the major
issues, and the participants will then discuss, choose and select what
they perceive are the hottest issues to be examined. (Estimated time:
10-15 minutes)

4. The participants will work for 70-95 minutes in small groups, with
a designated moderator assigned for each group. The groups will
individually deal with two different, identified hot issues and will
produce a summary note in the form of points and counterpoints,
showing either how several views are irreducibly opposed or how they
are complementary.  The total number of groups will depend mainly on
the number of participants and issues selected; ideally there should
be 3-5 p people in each group. (Estimated time: 60-70 minutes)

5. Each group will be given 10-15 minutes to present its findings and
inferences to the workshop.   A closing discussion will soon follow.
The workshop report will be composed on the basis of these findings,
and will include a clear cut agenda for future exploration and
cooperation; this will be made available through the WWW and FTP.
(Estimated time: 50-60 minutes for five teams)

(Total estimated time: 285-315 minutes, i.e. about five hours +/- 15
minutes; lunch and breaks are not included.)

IMPORTANT DATES

Submission deadline                September 14, 2007
Acceptance notification                September 30, 2007
Camera-ready paper due                October 10, 2007
Workshop date:                        October 21, 2007
Conference begins:                         October 21, 2007

ORGANIZERS


DR. M.E. FAYAD  (CHAIR)
Professor of Computer Engineering
Computer Engineering Dept., College of Engineering
San José State University
One Washington Square, San José, CA 95192-0180
Ph: (408) 924-7364, Fax: (408) 924-4153
E-mail: 
m.fayad AT sjsu.edu,
 
mefayad AT gmail.com
URL: http://www.engr.sjsu.edu/fayad

DR. CHIA-CHU CHIANG (CO-CHAIR)
University of Arkansas at Little Rock
Department of Computer Science, 2801 South University Ave.,
Little Rock, Arkansas 72204-1099, USA
Ph: (501) 569-8142
E-mail: 
cxchiang AT ualr.edu
URL: http://pandora.compsci.ualr.edu/cxchiang/index.html

HUÁSCAR A. SÁNCHEZ (CO-CHAIR)
Independent Consultant
22 Marcin Hill, Burnsville MN 55337
Ph: 952-223-4060
E-Mail: 
huascar.sanchez AT hsanchez.net
URL: www.hsanchez.net

DR. PABLO CHACIN (CO-CHAIR)
Technical University of Catalonya
Departamento de Arquitectura de Computadores
UPC Campus Nord, C6-002
Jordi Girona 1-3
Barcelona 08034, Spain
Ph: +34 93 401 10 55
E-mail: 
pchacin AT ac.upc.edu
URL: http://personals.ac.upc.edu/pchacin

DR. SRINI RAMASWAMY (CO-CHAIR)
Department of Computer Science
Dickinson Hall Suite 515
University of Arkansas at Little Rock
2801 S. University Avenue, Little Rock, AR 72204
Ph: (501)-569-8134
Fax: (501)-569-8144
E-mail: 
sxramaswamy AT ualr.edu
URL: http://pandora.compsci.ualr.edu/srini/

DR. ARTURO SÁNCHEZ-RUÍZ, (CO-CHAIR)
University of North Florida, USA
School of Computing
University of North Florida
4567 St Johns Bluff Rd. S.
Jacksonville, FL 32224-2669
Ph: 904-620-1314
Fax: 904-620-2988
E-mail: 
asanchez AT unf.edu,
 
Arturo AT acm.org
URL: http://www.unf.edu/~asanchez

DR. SELMIN NURCAN (CO-CHAIR)
Maître de Conférences
Centre de Recherche en Informatique, France
Université Paris 1 - Panthéon - Sorbonne
Centre de Recherche en Informatique
90, rue de Tolbiac 75634 Paris cedex 13 FRANCE
Ph: 33 - 1 44 07 86 34
Fax : 33 - 1 44 07 89 54
E-mail: 
nurcan AT univ-paris1.fr
URL: http://crinfo.univ-paris1.fr/users/nurcan

DR. A. KANNAMMAL SAMPATHKUMAR (CO-CHAIR)
Coimbatore Institute of Technology, TamilNadu, India
34/43, 14th Cross,
Thirumagal Nagar, Peelamedu Pudur,
Coimbatore 641 004, TN, INDIA.
Ph: 00 91 422 2574071
E-mail: 
kannaphd AT yahoo.co.in
URL: http://www.citindia.com/Computer_Kannammal.htm

PROGRAM COMMITTEE

Rami Bahsoon, Aston University in Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom
Javier Bilbao, University of the Basque Country, Spain
Rafael Capilla, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos,  Madrid, Spain
Rogerio Atem de Carvalho,  Federal Center for Technological Education
of Campos, Brazil
Pablo Chacin,  Technical University of Catalonya, Barcelona, Spain
Chia-Chu Chiang, University of Arkansas, Little Rock, USA
Bernard Coulette,  University of Toulouse II, France
Sergiu Dascalu, University of Nevada, Reno, USA
Sergio de Cesare, Brunel University, West London, United Kingdom
Jurgen Dix, Clausthal University of Technology, Germany
M.E. Fayad, San Jose State University & vrlSoft, Inc., Silicon Valley, USA
Giancarlo Fortino, University of Calabria, Italy
João Miguel Fernandes, Universidade do Minho, Braga, Portugal
Maria Joao Ferreira, Universidade Portucalense, PORTO, Portugal
Rosario Girardi,   Federal University of Maranhão, São Luís, Brasil
Yann-Gaël Guéhéneuc, Université de Montréal, Canada
Pilar Herrero, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain
Hoda Hosny, The American University in Cairo, Egypt
Lise Hvatum, Schulmberger, Taxes, USA
Dong, Jing, University of Texas at Dallas, USA
A. Kannammal, Coimbatore Institute of Technology, TamilNadu, India
Mohamed-Khireddine Kholladi, University of Constantine, France
Dae-Kyoo Kim, Oakland University, USA
Jianzhi Li, De Montfort University, United Kingdom
Jing Liu, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
Ricardo J. Machado, Universidade do Minho, Guimaraes, Portugal
Aime Mokhoo Mbobi, Ecole Supérieure d'Electricité, France
Supratik Mukhopadhyay, Utah State University, USA
Selmin Nurcan, Université Paris 1, France
Flavio Oquendo, University of South Brittany, France
Toacy Cavalcante de Oliveira, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio
Grande do Sul, Brazil
Michael Oudshoorn,  Montana State University, USA
Shushma Patel, London South Bank University, United Kingdom
Loris Penserini, ITC-IRST, Automated Reasoning Systems, Italy
Agostino Poggi,  University of Parma, Italy
Srini Ramaswamy, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, USA
Philippe Roose, Laboratoire d'Informatique de l'Université de Pau et
des Pays de l'Adour, France
Ahmed Salem, California State University , Sacramento (CSUS), USA
Huascar A. Sanchez, Independent Consultant, Minnesota, USA
Arturo Sánchez-Ruíz, University of North Florida, USA
Christian Schlegel, University of Applied Sciences Ulm, Germany
Alberto Rodrigues da Silva, Technical University of Lisbon,, PORTUGAL
Marjan Sirjani, University of Tehran, Iran
Yasemin Topaloglu, Ege University, Izmir, Turkey
Manolis Tzagarakis, University of Patras Campus, Greece
Hironori Washizaki, National Institute of Informatics, Japan
Levent Yilmaz,   Auburn University, USA
Wolfgang Zuser,  OBJENTIS Software Integration GmbH, Austria