TC 2 - Software: Theory and Practice
In Memory of A. Haeberer, TC 2 Chair (2001 - 11.02.2003 †)
Professor Armando Haeberer, the Chairman of IFIP TC 2 on "Software: Theory and Practice" is no longer with us. Armando died on 11 February
Armando was born in Argentina in 1947. He studied Chemistry, Physics and Operational Research and his PhD is in Informatics. His professional career, starting in 1969, has been partly in academic research and partly in industrial R&D projects. He lived and worked in Argentina, Brazil, the UK, Germany, and Portugal. Armando has been professor at the Universities of Buenos Aires and La Plata, as well as several others in Argentina, and of the Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. He was a Visiting Professor of King's College London and a visiting researcher/academic fellow at Imperial College, London, and at the Ludwig-Maximilians Universität, the Technische Universität, and the Bundeswehr Universität, all in Munich. Since November 2002, he was the Director of the UNU International Institute for Software Technology in Macao.
Following our announcement many called or wrote to express their dismay, shock and grief and to say that Armando's vision, leadership and friendship will be greatly missed. IFIP lost a prominent member with an excellent reputation among the computer science community.
Only a few days before Armando's passing we were in email contact to discuss TC 2 matters and his interview for "Visions from the IT Engine Room" which was nearly ready. With the help of Armando's colleagues in Macao we tried to find the file with his answers. Having failed that, we decided to invite three IFIP Silver Core holders who are deeply involved in TC 2 affairs to help us complete this interview in memory of Armando. These are:
Prof. Reino Kurki-Suonio, Past TC 2 Chair (1995 - 2000), Finnish GA representative to IFIP and IPC Chair for IFIP Congress 2004
Prof. Robert Meersman, TC 2 Vice-Chair since 2001, past WG 2.6 Chair (1983-1989) and past TC 12 Chair (1989 - 1995)
Prof. Dines Bjorner, past TC 2 member, member of WG 2.3, overall Chair of IFIP Congress 1986, founding and first Director (1991-1997) of the UNU International Institute for Software Technology in Macao.
Dines, Robert and Reino agreed to contribute by responding each to one question. They are the authors but in preparing their contributions they have given some thought on Armando's opinion and understanding and have tried to reflect this in their answers.
The Delivery Co: In your opinion, which are the most significant developments and activities of your TC since its foundation?
Reino Kurki-Suonio: The history of TC2 is intimately tied with the history of our understanding of software. The key role that TC2 has served in this development is what I find most significant in TC2 activities, and it would be wrong for me to single out any specific instances from this development.
When TC2 was created, the most effective means to increase our understanding of software was research and experimental work on programming languages. In addition to ideas that are now standard in these languages, this led to important theoretical questions on the mathematical abstractions that were needed for deeper understanding, and then to developing a sound theoretical basis for software development methods. More recently, software engineering research has given rise to a variety of more specific areas in which better theoretical understanding is also needed.
Throughout its history, TC2 and its working groups have provided forums on which new ideas on these "core questions" have been discussed already in their early stages of development. A significant aspect in this work has been that also theoretical research has always been connected with its use to advance computing practice.
The Delivery Co: Are there any current technical activities within the scope of your TC, which you feel could have a significant societal/economic impact in the future?
Robert Meersman: [will be completed soon after the IFIP Council, 2-6 March, Bilbao]
The Delivery Co: Are there any specific technical issues you find important for IFIP as a whole to address?
Dines Bjorner: The world, both the industrial, the newly industrialised, and the developing countries, are "blinded" by IT, the technology that is powered by software. IT stands in relation to Computing Science as for example Biotechnology stands in relation to Biology. Few are "blinded", or "awed" by the software. This year, a quarter century after the Software Engineering Crisis meeting at Garmisch Partenkirschen, we are still in the midst of a software crisis. Software development projects incur huge overruns, delays and delivered software falls far short of expectations. It will not help to go after technology - and in particular for the developing and emerging countries to focus on the technology. IFIP could help them, through its WGs, to focus on the means, the methods, the principles and techniques, for the sound construction of software support for infrastructure components such as health-care informatics, transportation informatics (including informatics for logistics), financial services informatics, trading: not just e-market, but e-governement, e-citizen to e-citizen: within and between any of the partners in the triangle: Government, businesses, citizens. Etcetera.
To progress here means to establish models of these application domains, to base requirements on these models, and to derive the software from those requirements. Clearly something that cuts across all of IFIPs many TCs. IT is a universe of material quantity: More capacity, higher speed, smaller volume, cheaper costs, lower power consumption, etc. Informatics is a universe of intellectual quality: Better fit between needs and solutions, between man and machine, correctness (failure freeness), dependability: Security, etc.