ACCU - Spring Conference 2001 & AGM

• The Sessions in Detail
• Registration fees
• Travel Information

The ACCU Spring Conference will take place on the 29th, 30th and 31st of March 2001, at Christ Church College, Oxford, OX1 1DP.

The AGM will take place on Saturday 31st at 12:45pm at the Newham Rooms, St Aldates, which are just south of Christ Church College on the opposite side of the road.

This conference is being organised by ACCU in partnership with Informant Communications Europe

Please note that some details (session summaries and Bios) are missing, these will be added when available.

Thursday 29 March

Friday 30 March

Saturday 31 March

*Sessions and speakers subject to change without notice.

Panel: meet the News Group Gurus

The exact make-up of this will depend on who comes, but it will include Dietmar Kühl, Herb Sutter, Francis Glassborow, Alan Griffiths and Andrei Alexandrescu (time and date to be advised)

The Sessions in Detail

Andrei Alexandrescu

Andrei is a Development Manager with RealNetworks, Inc. He is a columnist for C++ Report, a former contributor to C/C++ Users Journal, and the author of the upcoming book "Design with C++" (tentative title), Addison Wesley Longman, Reading, MA. Andrei holds an MS degree in Electronics from the Polytechnic University of Bucharest.

Improving Reuse in C++ Through Policy Classes - Example: Designing The Smart Pointer of the 2000s

This tutorial has a worthy goal: together, the presenter and the attendees will implement a generic smart pointer, a highly functional piece of code that sports configurable behaviours and an amazing rate of reuse.
Smart pointers are hard to get right. But because they nicely automate things that are hard to manage by hand, smart pointers are an essential ingredient of robust C++ applications. As small as they are, smart pointers can make the difference between failure and success. The implementation presented uses a new class design technique - Policy Classes. Policy Classes are specialised structural and behavioural entities that decide one well-defined aspect of a complex behaviour. The advantage of policy classes is that they can be combined freely in concrete classes, thus leading to combinatorial reuse. Through only six mixable-and-matchable policy classes, SmartPtr achieves about 160 different predefined behaviours. Clients can define their own policies.

Duncan Booth

Duncan graduated as a Computer Scientist from Cambridge University and initially worked for Torch Computers using BCPL, C and Assembler before joining the fledging RCP as the third employee in 1984. Duncan has worked on many projects in RCP, including foreign exchange dealing, real-time financial data, banking back office systems, and healthcare systems. His interest in Python was first sparked at a science fiction convention, since when it has become a major player in his choice of languages. As well as writing in Python he also ported it to the Psion 5 handheld. He is currently developing applications for web and WAP browsers, mostly using Python and Zope.

Using Python on the Web

Python is a language well suited to developing web applications. This presentation covers all aspects of Python's role in web development. The standard distribution includes good support for retrieving and processing web data, allowing simple client-side applications with minimal coding. Support for server-side applications is covered from simple CGI scripts, through minimal web servers right up to Zope, a full-blown web application server written in a mixture of Python and C. Finally JPython provides an almost seamless integration between Python and Java, allowing the developer to choose the most appropriate tool for the job.

Beman Dawes

Beman is a senior software developer and the author of the StreetQuick=AE geographic atlas software library. Beman runs the Boost.org C++ Libraries web site. He has been a voting member of the ANSI/ISO C++ Standards Committee since 1992, and chaired the Library Working Group for the past five years.

Introducing Boost and the Boost C++ Libraries

The Boost.org web site provides a repository of free, peer-reviewed, C++ libraries. The emphasis is on portable libraries which work well with the C++ Standard Library. Several may eventually go into the next revision of the C++ Standard Library. Begun by a few programmers from the C++ Standards Committee's Library Working Group, Boost now has several hundred participants. This talk introduces Boost, and describes the current Boost libraries, libraries under development, and how programmers can participate. Who is it intended for?

Who is it intended for?

C++ programmers interested in learning about the current Boost libraries, or int erested in contributing to future Boost libraries.

Francis Glassborow

Francis is a member of the BSI C, C++ and Java Standards Panels and a regular member of the UK delegations to the ISO work groups for these languages. He presents training in C and C++ and was a regular columnist for EXE. He has been a member of ACCU since 1988 and has edited its principle publication C Vu since 1990.

Panel: meet the News Group Gurus

-

Dan Kirkpatrick

Based in Aberdeen, Scotland, Dan Kirkpatrick is a software architect and trainer with Blue Lotus Software, a consultancy specializing in the development of cutting-edge technologies for server-side and client-side applications. As an expert in J2EE, J2SE, XML, and C++, Dan lectures internationally on the development of Java applications and XML application frameworks. Dan holds degrees in electrical engineering, computer science, and applied math from Rice University, and has been programming professionally since 1988.

Java 2, Enterprise Edition (J2EE): Comparing J2EE to .NET

The introduction of Java 2, Enterprise Edition (J2EE), has established Java as a dominant language for enterprise application development. The J2EE platform provides capabilities for dynamic web content, asynchronous and synchronous computing, directory services for networked services, and much more. The .NET platform, recently introduced by Microsoft, offers many enterprise application capabilities that are similar to J2EE. In this talk, the speaker will introduce all aspects of the J2EE platform, and will compare and contrast J2EE to .NET for enterprise application development.

Andy Robinson (replaces John Grayson)

Further details shortly...

Introducing Python

Python is an increasingly popular object oriented interpreter, invented by Guido van Rossum in 1990. This presentation will introduce the audience to the language, highlighting the features which make it valuable in a number of application areas. In particular, the applications where Python is appropriate will be contrasted with cases where Python is not intended to be used. Several examples of Python applications will be presented, including system administration tasks, GUIs and other effective applications.

Notes and Slides

John Grayson's notes in PDF format

Alan Griffiths

Alan Griffiths is a senior developer at Experian, Chair of the ACCU and a member of the BSI C++ Panel. He has been working in C++ since the late 1980's and in Java since they first became generally available. You can find details of some his published work by visiting his website (http://www.octopull.demon.co.uk).

Exception Safety in Java

The fact that the compiler forces programmers to deal with exceptions in Java leads to a presumption that they are dealt with correctly. This is not always true - for without a clear idea of the objectives it is easy to go astray. This talk covers several definitions of "exception safety" and illustrates techniques for achieving them in your code.

Kevlin Henney

Kevlin Henney is an independent consultant and trainer specialising in C++, Java, OO, design, patterns and software architecture. He is a regular conference speaker, article contributor, and is a columnist for C++ Report and Java Report.

Keynote: Minimalism

Software development is about many things, one of which is the management of complexity. It is a lesson that has been oft repeated, but apparently not as often heeded. The inherent complexity of a software system is something that we can do little about; we cannot eliminate it, but we can hide and abstract it. We can also create complexity.
The belief that "less is more" seems to be recognised more in its breach than in its observance. It seems a common enough piece of advice from which we can learn and shape our software, from large-scale components down to individual program statements.
This talk sets out to explore how attention to a more minimal approach affects the practice of writing software and the quality of written software in a development culture obsessed with quantity and productivity by numbers.

Chris Hills

A Technical Specialist with Hitex (UK) he is also a member of the BSI C panel. Over the last two decades, Chris has worked on embedded projects, from both the hardware and software sides, from smart cards to multi-processor SDH systems (PPC based). He has been involved in many practical reviews of tools and project requirements. Currently he advises many projects on the suitability of various debug and testing strategies.

SCIL - a simple way of grading embedded projects and embedded test and debug tools

The Safety, Complexity, Integrity Level is a simple method of grading embedded projects as a whole and the tool requirements for testing them as a whole. SCIL can also be used to grade embedded tools and indicates their suitability for various types of work. The SCIL system can be used to indicate to a sub-contractor the level of testing and the standard of tools required to achieve it. It wil also stop the use of inappropriate tools and methods. Eventually tools will be SCIL graded. This system is not language, industry sector or processor specific. The SCIL project is still in it's initial stages but has already gained much interest. www.scil-level.org

Jon Jagger

Jon is a product consultant at QA Training, responsible for their C++ and C training courses. He is a member of the C++ and C UK standards panels and a regular contributor to the ACCU Overload journal. He is married with three beautiful children. He has worked for British Aerospace and NTL and has experience of real-time digital TV software under UNIX. His interests include training, design, problem solving, and Monty Python (which he says is required knowledge for all software developers; forget the technical interview, just recite the parrot sketch!) He doesn't really know what else he should say in a short bio such as this. He's very, very good at sleeping. And breathing. Both of which he practices a lot.

C#: First Thoughts

The main thrust of this talk is to introduce experienced programmers in other languages to the new Microsoft language.

C# in detail

In this presentation I will discuss the new C# language from Microsoft. I will make detailed comparisons between C# and C++ and also between C# and Java. These comparisons will cover the whole of the C# language, from the fundamental types right through to some of the key framework classes. These comparisons will give delegates with a knowledge of C++ or Java a strong feel for the language and its capabilities. I will also explain how C# relates to the .NET platform and consider topics such as Intermediate Language, .NET DLL modules, and .NET assemblies.

Nicolai Josuttis

Nico is well known for his new book about the C++ standard library, which became a best-seller and de-facto standard on this subject in a very short time. He is an active member of the C++ Standard Committee and has written several books on object-oriented programming and C++. He is member of the editorial board of "C++ Report" and a partner of the System Bauhaus, a German group of recognised object-oriented system development experts. He works as self-employed trainer, consultant and systems architect.

Traps and Pitfalls of the C++ Standard Library

The C++ Standard Library was a big step to enable programmers to use general components and a higher level of abstraction of C++ without losing portability, rather than having to develop all code from scratch. However, the library provides a lot of flexibility, and flexibility for nontrivial purposes has a price. Beware that the library has traps and pitfalls. This talk shows the most important of them and suggests ways of avoiding them.

C++ Templates: Concepts, Design, and Practice

C++ is a multi-paradigm language. One paradigm is the generic paradigm provided by the templates technique. Due to the availability of standard conforming systems and experience with templates we are just beginning to understand the whole picture of the power of generic programming with templates. One aspect is the ability to implement polymorphism in a different way. Instead of using a base class, a template parameter is used. This has important consequencies. For example, patterns such as the famous bridge pattern may be implemented totally differently. This talk covers this subject, discusses pros and cons, and provides some examples.

Dietmar Kühl

Dietmar works as consultant and software architect at Phaidros Software AG, a company turning UML models into ready to use software. He is an active member of the ISO C++ committee, a moderator of the newsgroup comp.lang.c++.moderated, and has written an implementation of a large portion of the standard C++ library.

Implementing the C++ Standard Library

The standard C++ library is no different from any other library when it comes down to user expectations: In the first place the library implementation has to be correct but this is not the end of the story. Using the library should have minimum impact on the compile time and executable size while the resulting executable should be as fast as possible. This talk presents techniques which the speaker uses in his implementation of the Standard C++ Library implementations to address these expectations.

Angelica Langer

I teach C++ related topics as a freelancer in Europe and the US. I'm a recognised speaker at various international conferences, among them C++ World, OOP, TOOLS. I'm a columnist for C++ Report and a member of the C++ standards committee and co-author of the book "Standard C++ IOStreams and Locales". A more comprehensive biography can be found on my web page (http://www.langer.camelot.de/).

Standard C++ Locales

The Standard C++ Library includes a framework for internationalisation of C++ programs in form of locales and facets. The locale framework is used by the standard stream I/O classes for internationalised I/O, but is designed to be of more general use. The standard facets provide support for culture dependent formats of date and time, monetary amounts, language-dependent sorting of strings, and other culture-dependencies. In addition to the standard facilities, the locale framework is extensible and can serve as a vehicle for special-purpose culture-dependencies such as address formats, shoe sizes, or temperature-, measure-, or currency conversions.
In this tutorial we will explore the standard facets and will learn how to add user-defined internationalisation services to the standard locale framework.

Prerequisites

Participants should have at least 1 year of working knowledge of C++; knowledge of internationalization services in C will help, but are not required.

Alan Lenton

Alan Lenton is in charge of game design and development and overall technical matters for Interactive Broadcasting. Alan handles all the design for new and existing games, and the programming for new games. He also has responsibility for managing other programmers doing maintenance work and writing game tools.
Alan has extensive management, publishing and software design experience, having worked as the manager of a rock band, manager of a bookshop, a graphic designer, and the production editor of a London listings magazine. He was for three years general manager of the UK's first commercial consumer network Compunet, before leaving to concentrate on writing IB's award-winning multi-player game Federation.
Multi-player games designed by Alan include Federation, an adventure/economic simulation set in a future universe; Iron Wolves, a submarine simulation; and the recently released Age of Adventure, a role-playing game based in Victorian times.
Alan has a degree in sociology from Leeds University, which is probably one of the reasons why Interactive Broadcasting's games create true communities, so that IB's multi-player games become real cyberspace societies. Alan has been known to refer to himself as the world's only practising sociologist!

Developing Open Source Software

Recently, putting software into Open Source seems to have become a panacea for the woes of struggling software companies. It isn't. In many ways developing open source software is much more difficult than developing closed source software.
As well as the obvious requirements of good programming style and a solid technical knowledge, developing open source software requires a well suppressed ego, tact, and an ability to know when to compromise and when to draw a line. Not characteristics usually associated with programmers! It is perhaps not for nothing that a commentator once referred to Linus Torvalds as the Open Source Movement's 'cat-herder-in-chief'.
This session will not only look at these issues but also at the nature of code developed for open Source and the tools developed by the movement - rpm, cvs, gnatts, autoconf, automake, and libtools. It will also look at some of the implications of open source licences like the GPL. See the conference notes at: http://www.ibgames.net/alan/technical/opensource.html

Mark Radford

Twelve years experience in software development with both conventional and object oriented approaches, working on scientific, engineering and business applications. Used various languages (Fortran, Pascal, Basic, C/C++ and Java) on range of platforms (VAX/VMS, Pick, Windows and IBM Mainframe running MVS/CICS).
Having worked as an independent contractor for the last two years, now settled once again in permanent employment with Intercede Limited, who specialise in information security.

Exploring interfaces - a C++ perspective

To understand how to design interfaces effectively in C++, we must delve into the themes that run through the best-practice use of the language. This is highlighted by the (often subtle) effect that modern C++ features - exceptions and templates for example - have on the way interfaces are designed. The aim of this talk is to explore the issues, principles and techniques that motivate the way interfaces are designed in modern C++.

Gabriel Dos Reis

Former student of the ENS Cachan, I'm a third year PhD student in Differential Geometry applying computational methods in constant mean curvature surfaces construction by numerical methods.
I'm a member of the French national body organization for standardisation (AFNOR) delegation in WG21 (since 1997), and I'm the French delegate in WG11 (since 1998).
I began lobbying for C++ in scientific computations since 1996 when I worked on the European scientific project FRISCO (Framework for Numerical and Symbolic Computations) -- I worked at INRIA Sophia Antipolis (France).
I implemented the numerical components of the new GNU libstdc++-v3
Currently I'm working, for CodeSourcery LLC[2], on the C++ front-end of GCC. I'm also the co-maintainer of libstdc++-v3.

Expressing Constraints a la Standard ML Signatures

Our purpose here is to demonstrate how constraints a la SML can be approximated in C++. After a brief exposition of abstract classes as interfaces in C++, we show why that scheme doesn't fit some static requirements. Then we move on considering some template techniques. Finally we discuss their limitations.

Metaprogramming in C++: a type calculi point of view.

We want to emphasise the algebraic aspect of metaprogramming in C++ based on template techniques. In particular, we adopt the viewpoint that type names are actually template-names of 0-arity. That enables us to shed a light on the ideas behind template techniques as means of doing metaprogramming in C++.

Herb Sutter

Herb Sutter is secretary of the ISO/ANSI C++ standards committees, an active member of the ANSI SQL standards committee, contributing editor of C/C++ Users Journal, and author of the books Exceptional C++ and the forthcoming More Exceptional C++ (Addison-Wesley). He is also the creator of patents covering several dozen innovations in the fields of distributed database design and organization, distributed network organization, and cryptographic security for databases.

Namespaces & the Interface Principle (for C++ programmers interested in robust software engineering)

This talk analyzes namespaces and name lookup in C++, and shows how C++'s naming rules affect sound class and module design. The talk covers Koenig lookup, the Interface Principle, and some perhaps surprising name lookup gotchas, and shows how to create robust designs that avoid the pitfalls.

Optimizing "Plain" and "Multithreaded" C++ Code (for Programmers interested in efficient coding style and multithreaded optimization issues)

This talk answers the following questions: How can you identify and eliminate unnecessary temporary objects? How can you reduce compile- time dependencies to improve encapsulation and build speed? Will inlining make your code smaller or bigger, slower or faster, and why? It concludes with an in-depth examination of "copy-on-write," and shows why some optimizations are only good in single-threaded programs and can cause serious performance problems in a multithreaded environment.

KEYNOTE: Pitfalls of the software of the software industry

If you have an appetite for controversy, welcome to the software development industry. Step right in! From language wars and standards skirmishes, to Why 2K and antitrust actions, we have it all. Hugely entertaining as it can be, however, the problem is that the misspent energy often gets in the way of getting important things done. Worse still, it distracts us from the true role of our industry in, and its value to, our society. This talk is a reflection on the meaning and future of our industry in the first decade of the 21st century.

Julian Templeman

A programmer since the early 70's, Julian currently runs a London-based training and consultancy company, specialising in C++, Java, Windows and COM. He also still has occasion to use Fortran, which qualifies him as a real programmer...

Java for C++ Programmers

"A whistlestop tour of the Java world for C++ programmers. The material is organised under three headings: First, "The Java Language" which shows that, although superficially similar at the syntax level, Java and C++ are in fact very different languages. "The Java Runtime Environment" covers the Java Virtual Machine and how it implements secure portability and distribution, and "The Java Platform" provides an introduction to the numerous APIs, covering everything from 3D graphics to wireless communication, which make up the Java platform."

Panel includes: Kevlin Henney, Alan Griffiths and Mark Radford
Considering Access in Design

The purpose of this panel discussion is to consider the broad issues relating to use of access specifiers together with 'friend'. Some of the questions that will be addressed are 'Should nested classes have access to the private members of the enclosing class?', 'Should virtual functions be private/protected?" and "When is public data desirable?"
The background to this discussion is a proposal to change the rules for access for nested classes so that they will always have access to the private and protected interfaces of the enclosing class.

Panel includes: Kevlin Henney et al
Improving your Presentation Skills

Many programmers have to make presentations as part of their professional lives, not just for conferences. There are many ways in which these skills can be developed. Members of the panel will discuss their own experiences and suggest ways in which others can increase the effectiveness of presentations at all levels.Improving your Presentation Skills

Panel includes: Dietmar Kühl, Herb Sutter, Francis Glassborow, Alan Griffiths and Andrei Alexandrescu
Meet the News Group Gurus

Most of us appreciate meeting people that we have only previously corresponded with. Seeing the person behind the technical responses is often a surprise, usually a pleasant one. There are a number of regular contributors to language related usenet newsgroups attending this event. The purpose of this closing panel discussion is to give everyone a chance to find out a little more about them so that the next time you post you will have a better idea about the people behind the responses.

Panel includes: Dietmar Kühl, Nicolai Josuttis et al
C++ Standard Library: Changes, Corrections and Future Extensions

The ISO C++ Standard Library is 368 pages of complex software specification, so errors or requests for interpretation are no surprise. In the nearly three years the standard has been complete, over 230 such issues have surfaced. While most are just typos, minor defects, or not actually defects, a few do represent fairly serious defects in the standard. In this talk three active members of the C++ Standards Committee's Library Working Group present defects they consider noteworthy.

Who is it intended for?

C++ programmers interested in the C++ Standard Library, or interested in perspectives from members of the Standards Committee's Library Working Group.

Registration fees

*This also includes Corporate ACCU members

ACCU Speaker Banquet on Thursday 29 March (places very limited) £40 + VAT (£47.00)

How to register

Online: www.accuconf.com

Phone: +44 (0)20 8789 2250 / 2251

Fax the Registration form to: +44 (0)20 8789 2249

Or post it to:
Informant Communications Ltd,
Unit 1, The Mews
6 Putney Common
London, SW15 1HL
UK

Travel Information

If driving, use the excellent Oxford Park and Ride Scheme. Carparks are situated around the Oxford ring road.

Directions for getting to Oxford and links to Rail, Bus, Tube and Coach is available from http://www.oxford.gov.uk/tourism/directions/directions.html.

Christ Church has references to location maps, and a road map is available from Multimap.