[aosd-announce] CFP - 2nd Workshop on Assessment of Contemporary Modularization Techniques (ACoM.08) at OOPSLA08

[Phil Greenwood]

Apologise for multiple copies.

2nd Workshop on Assessment of Contemporary Modularization Techniques
(ACoM.08)
19th October 2008 (to be confirmed), Nashville, USA
Co-located with: 23rd ACM Conference on Object-Oriented Programming
Systems and Applications (OOPSLA .08)
Workshop Web-site: http://www.comp.lancs.ac.uk/computing/ACoM.08/

Motivation
========
With new modularization techniques, such as aspect-oriented
programming (AOP) and feature-oriented programming (FOP), starting to
reach some level of maturity, their assessment is becoming a central
issue to researchers and industrial practitioners. Modern programming
languages and modelling techniques (e.g. UML) are consistently being
enhanced with additional abstractions, such as aspects and features,
and several composition mechanisms, including pointcut-advice,
inter-type declarations, and mixin composition. However, it remains
unclear to what extent advanced modularization techniques can improve
software productivity and maintainability. Emerging modularity
mechanisms call for appropriate assessment techniques. It is not clear
whether traditional coupling-and-cohesion assessment methods are
sufficient to quantify modularity properties fostered by contemporary
modularization mechanisms. There is a pressing need to define proper
assessment mechanisms, techniques and methods for these new
modularization techniques.

This workshop emphasizes the need for improving the assessment of
modern modularity techniques, thereby contributing to their maturity
and evolution. We also aim at understanding their current impact in
real industrial settings, fostering their well-informed adoption
through effective assessment methods, and boosting the innovation of
both new modularization and assessment techniques. We also solicit
innovative ideas regarding assessment-based improvement of
modularization techniques. Assessing modularization techniques will
reveal their benefits and drawbacks, and may reveal the need for
advances in programming languages, architecture styles, or the novel
combination of existing modularity mechanisms. In particular,
empirical studies along with supporting assessment techniques provide
the basic means to improve our understanding of the benefits and
drawbacks of new software decomposition mechanisms, especially when
compared to techniques from other development paradigms.

Goals
========
The main goal of this workshop is to put together researchers and
practitioners with different backgrounds in order to discuss open
issues on the assessment of contemporary modularization techniques,
such as:

1. How do new modularization techniques affect working practices and
help with software development and evolution? What guidelines can be
established from assessment results to improve working practices?

2. What is the impact of using conventional quantitative metrics to
assess software modularity? Are they effective enough to assess
contemporary modularity techniques? How can we validate assessment
mechanisms?

3. To what extent does assessment depend on extensive experience in
practice? How can observations of practitioners help in assessment of
contemporary modularization techniques?

4. What are the potential paths leading to more effective
modularization techniques?

5. How can we compare these modularization techniques, reconcile their
seemingly different appearance, and synthesize their applications to
design software more effectively?

The workshop also aims at: (i) bringing the attention of the software
engineering community the importance of rigorous evaluation of
emerging modularization techniques; (ii) motivating the expansion of
research and practice associated with assessment of emerging
modularization technologies; and (iii) fostering a collaborative
environment for both practitioners and researchers interested in
effective assessment of new development techniques.

Topics of Interest
========
The workshop is intended to cover a wide range of topics, from
theoretical foundations to assessment frameworks and empirical studies
involving contemporary software modularity techniques. Topics of
interest include the following (but not limited to):

* Lessons learned from assessing new modularization techniques
* Empirical studies and industrial experiences
* Comparative studies between new modularization techniques and
conventional ones
* Assessment frameworks
* Software metrics and estimation models
* Validation of assessment techniques and mechanisms
* Assessment techniques, methods and tools to different phases of the
software lifecycle
* Development of predictive models of defect rates and reliability
from real data
* Infrastructure issues, such as measurement theory, experimental
design, and analysis approaches
* Improvement of modularization techniques based on assessment.

Workshop Format and Submissions
========
ACoM is a one-day long workshop and is strongly focused on discussion.
Authors who plan to contribute with a paper are requested to submit a
position paper in PDF format. The paper format must follow the ACM
SIGPLAN (10pt) style guidelines.  Papers must be written in English
and please see the workshop website
http://www.comp.lancs.ac.uk/computing/ACoM.08/ for submission
instructions. All accepted papers will be published on the website
http://www.comp.lancs.ac.uk/computing/ACoM.08/ prior to the workshop.

We are soliciting the submission of two categories of position papers:

1. Traditional position papers (up to 6 pages) related to workshop topics.

2. Very short position statement (1-2 pages), where the authors
describe their "innovative thoughts", lessons learned, or points of
view with respect to one or more workshop topics.

Papers in the category (1) will be refereed by at least three
reviewers, and should describe work that is not yet advanced enough
for a full conference paper. They are expected to have a more solid
idea, even though it does not require strong validation ingredients.
Papers in the category (2) will be mainly reviewed for topicality,
i.e. checked if they fit into the workshop topics, including some
feedback from reviewers. Moreover we especially encourage authors to
present their experience and/or novel ideas on how to assess new
modularization techniques (shorter paper format).

Important Dates (TBC please check the ACoM web-site for confirmation)
========
Submission Deadline:  15th August 2008
Notification of Acceptance: 4th September 2008 (1 week before
early-registration cut-off)
Camera-ready: 26th September 2008
Workshop:  19th October 2008 (to be confirmed - please check ACoM.08
website)

Programme Committee
========
Sven Apel, University of Passau, Germany
Paulo Borba, Federal University of Pernambuco, Brazil
Yvonne Coady, University of Victoria, Canada
Marc Eaddy, Columbia University, USA
Eduardo Figueiredo, Lancaster University, UK
George Heineman, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, uSA
James D. Herbsleb, Carnegie Mellon University, USA
Arno Jacobsen, University of Toronto, Canada
Gregor Kiczales, University of British Columbia, Canada
Christa Schwanninger, Siemens AG, Germany
Peri Tarr, IBM Watson Research Center, USA
Robert Walker, University of Calgary, Canada

Organizing Committee
========
Alessandro Garcia, Lancaster University, UK
Phil Greenwood, Lancaster University, UK
Elisa Baniassad, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, China
Kevin Sullivan, University of Virginia, USA
Yuanfang Cai, Drexel University, USA
Alan MacCormack, Harvard Business School, USA
Eduardo Figueiredo, Lancaster University, UK

Workshop Contact
========
Phil Greenwood (greenwop _at_ comp.lancs.ac.uk)