FInCo 2007

 call for papers

        FInCo 2007: FOUNDATIONS OF INTERACTIVE COMPUTATION

                satellite workshop of ETAPS 2007
             Saturday 31 March 2007, Braga, Portugal
              http://www.cs.brown.edu/sites/finco07
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The interaction paradigm provides a new conceptualization of compu-
tational phenomena, placing the emphasis on interaction rather than 
on algorithms; concurrent, distributed, reactive, embedded, component-
oriented, agent-oriented and service-oriented systems all exploit 
interaction as a fundamental paradigm.  Contemporary approaches to 
Software Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, Programming Languages, 
and Networking are all part of this paradigm change. However, a satis-
factory unified foundational framework for interactive computation is 
still lacking, analogous to the one that Turing Machines and lambda-
calculus provide for algorithms. Following the success of FInCo 2005, 
this workshop provides an opportunity for researchers to meet and ex-
change ideas, with the ultimate goal of providing a unified conceptual 
and formal framework for interactive computation.

The following characteristics distinguish this new, interactive notion 
of computation:

  Computational Problem: The notion of a computational problem includes 
    performing a task or providing a service, rather than being rest-
    ricted to algorithmically producing an answer to a question. 

  Observable Behavior: A computing component is modeled in terms of its 
    observable behavior, where later input values may depend on earlier 
    output values and vice versa. 
 
  Environments: The world, or environment of the computation is part of 
    the model, dynamically supplying the computational system with the 
    inputs, and consuming the output values from the system. 

  Concurrency: Computation may be concurrent, where the computing agent 
    computes in parallel with its environment, and with other agents 
    in it. 

The claim that “interaction is more powerful than algorithms” is an open
invitation to researchers to develop the tools and methods that can lend 
credence to this claim. Many models capturing different aspects of 
interaction have been introduced, including interaction automata and 
process algebras. It is now time for researchers involved in interactive 
systems to join their efforts and collaborate to develop a common frame-
work that focuses on constructive models of computation that exploit 
interaction as a first-class concept. Accordingly, FInCo 2007 has the 
following goals: 

* Understand the fundamental issues underlying the interaction paradigm;

* Establish a common language- and domain-independent framework for a 
  theory of interactive computation; 

* Identify the interactive principles of effective and reliable engi-
  neering of software systems; 

* Map out the design space of models of interaction, towards accompli-
  shing above goals.

WORKSHOP PANEL 

Title: Interactive Models for Software Engineering 
Moderator: Peter Wegner, Brown University, USA
Description: Software & systems engineering of today is being affected 
  by the growing importance of interaction. This panel considers the 
  role of interaction in the theory and practice of computing, with a 
  special focus on system design and development. 

PAPERS

   We solicit papers addressing one or more of the above goals. Submit 
   papers by email to <dqg@cs.brown.edu> by Jan. 31, 2007, with a 12-
   page limit. Workshop proceedings will be published by ENTCS. Selected 
   papers will be invited for journal publication. 

For a PDF copy of this announcement, and for further information, see
our web site at http://www.cs.brown.edu/sites/finco07

IMPORTANT DATES
   Submission: Jan. 31, 2007
   Notification: Feb. 28, 2007
   Workshop: Mar. 31, 2007

ORGANIZERS
   Farhad Arbab, CWI and Leiden Univ., The Netherlands <farhad@cwi.nl>
   Dina Goldin, Brown Univ., USA (chair) <dqg@cs.brown.edu>

PROGRAM COMMITTEE
   Gul Agha, UIUC, USA
   Luca de Alfaro, UC Santa Cruz, USA
   Luis Barbosa, Univ. do Minho, Portugal
   Antonio Brogi, Univ. di Pisa, Italy
   Jon Doyle, North Carolina State U., USA
   Giorgio Delzanno, Univ. di Genova, Italy
   José Luiz Fiadeiro, Univ. of Leicester, UK
   Rob van Glabbeek, Univ. of New South Wales, Australia
   Kees van Hee, Technische Univ. Eindhoven, The Netherlands
   Orna Kupferman, Hebrew Univ., Israel
   R. Prescott Loui, Washington Univ. in St. Louis, USA
   Peter McBurney, Univ. of Liverpool, UK
   John-Jules Meyer, Utrecht Univ., the Netherlands
   Ugo Montanari, Univ. di Pisa, Italy
   Rocco De Nicola, Univ. degli Studi di Firenze, Italy
   Andrea Omicini, Univ. di Bologna - Cesena, Italy
   Catuscia Palamidessi, INRIA and LIX École Polytechnique, France
   Jean-Eric Pin, Univ. Paris Denis Diderot and CNRS, France
   Vladimiro Sassone, Univ. of Sussex, UK
   Douglas C. Schmidt, Vanderbilt Univ., USA
   Carolyn Talcott, SRI Int’l, USA
   Bernhard Thalheim, Kiel Univ., Germany

STEERING COMMITTEE

   Manfred Broy, TU München, Germany
   Dina Goldin, Brown Univ., USA
   Mirko Viroli, Univ. Bologna/Cesena, Italy
   Peter Wegner, Brown Univ., USA 

WEB SITE
   http://www.cs.brown.edu/sites/finco07