Author: Giuseppe Primiero

Call for application: 3 years PhD position in the history and/or philosophy of programming (ANR JCJC PROGRAMme)

The project PROGRAMme (https://programme.hypotheses.org/) aims at a historical and philosophical study of computer programs. The project is funded by the ANR (48 months, JCJC project, contract nr. ANR-17-CE38-0003-01, coordinator: Liesbeth De Mol).

Description of the project
What is a (computer) program? The main question of this project starts out from the observation that, within computing, there is a diversity of understandings of what a computer program is or should be, resulting in very different approaches to the making and using of programs. A valuable assumption explaining this situation is the fact that computer programs have different modalities: a physical modality (as stored and executed in a machine); a formal modality (program-as-text); a socio-technical modality (as made and used by humans). The aim is to develop a coherent, pluralistic understanding of the notion of “program” and of its implications to theory and practice based on these three different modalities. The project will develop a historical and philosophical analysis of (models of) programs structured around four clusters:
1. Logic (e.g. lambda-calculus; Curry-Howard isomorphism)
2. Machines (e.g. EDVAC design; PC)
3. Programming languages and notations (e.g. Eiffel; Lisp)
4. Systems (e.g. Unix; Emacs)
Objectives of the project are to:
I. develop a dynamics of models of “programs” – how do these change and develop across the different clusters and within a given cluster – and identify and categorize scalability issues across and within individual clusters (linguistic; ontological; epistemological; etc)
II. identify and analyze invariants – problems, techniques and models which or more or less robust across the different clusters or within specific clusters and can thus be considered as fundamental. One example could by Brooks’s law.
III. retrace and systematize the different understandings and meanings of programs relative to their respective practices – genealogy and taxonomy of models

Description of the PhD position
PROGRAMme invites applications for a 3 year doctoral position expected to start on October 1, 2018. The position will be hosted at Université de Lille at the research lab Savoirs, Textes, Langage and co-supervised by Liesbeth De Mol (CNRS, UMR 8163 STL) and Shahid Rahman (UMR 8163 STL).
In line with PROGRAMme, the PhD student is expected to develop a PhD project which will contribute to a more coherent and pluralistic understanding of (computer) programs by focusing on one of the four clusters in relation to one of the three above objectives. Different approaches will be allowed and it depends on the skills, interests and background of the PhD candidate which approach will be used. The candidate should give a short presentation of her/his possible topic and explain how it fits into PROGRAMme. See below for more details.
PROGRAMme is a multidisciplinary project which requires collaboration across different disciplinary boundaries and involves an international team of over 20 researchers with diverse backgrounds. The succesful candidate will be a member of the team and will spend most of her/his working time on her/his project in the context of this project. S/he is expected to contribute actively to the regular team meetings as well as to the planned bi-weekly work meetings. S/he is also expected to publish her/his research results as well as to contribute to the project’s wiki. S/he will be encouraged to participate in the most relevant conferences and workshops to the project (e.g. HaPoC, HaPoP, SHOT, IACAP, CiE etc).

Requirements
Candidates are required to have completed their Master degree in either history and/or philosophy of science and technology. Alternatively, a degree in the area of computing (e.g. computer science) is allowed, provided there is proven interest towards history and/or philosophy of computing. The candidate is also expected to have a good command of spoken and written English in order to be able to interact and collaborate with the international project team and to contribute to its publications. Good knowledge of written and spoken French is considered to be an advantage. Any prior research experience which has resulted in talks or publications in relevant journals and conferences will be considered a plus. Given the collaborative and interdisciplinary nature of PROGRAMme, a proven ability to understand and discuss different approaches (whether they be historical, philosopical or more technical) will be considered as an additional advantage.

How to apply?
Applications should be to liesbeth.demol@univ-lille3.fr. They should include:
1. a cv
2. a short research proposal (at most 2 pages). This should include:
a title
a short (personal) statement which includes a clear motivation of the topic with respect to PROGRAMme and with respect to the candidate’s own background and interests.
a description of the topic the candidate would like to work on. This should also introduce the project’s objective(s) and its significance.
a description of the methods to be used. This should include a description of how the project’s main objective(s) will be reached. Given the pluridisciplinary nature of PROGRAMme, the candidate should also frame the methodology in one or more disciplines relevant to PROGRAMme (e.g. epistemology; history and philosophy of science; computer science history; etc)
3. a bibliography for the project (at most 1 page)
4. a sample of academic work (e.g. Master thesis; research papers; etc)

The deadline for the application is June 20, 2018.

Review of applications will start on June 21, 2018 and the selected candidates will be invited for an interview (possibility of videoconference) to be held in the first week of July.

For further information, please do not hesitate to contact Liesbeth De Mol (liesbeth.demol@univ-lille3.fr)

Hardwired at Heart: The Everyday and Extraordinary in 20th Century Czechoslovak Computing

Prague, 16 May 2018

Call for papers & call for participation

From the late 1940s to the 1980s, from the first computer pioneers to hobbyists, computing in Czechoslovakia was permeated with enthusiasm, or rather with deep, almost obsessive interest and willingness to push barriers (political, financial, physical and scientific), which could be found with hobbyists as well as with professionals. Professionals namely often were not privileged, and their salary was not too high, so they had to be enthusiasts to pursue programming and computer science. Similarly, hobbyists were not always kids; they were often professionals tinkering on nights and weekends instead of heading to their weekend house (the Czech word for the weekend house, chata, later provided a nice pun with chat.)

The enthusiasm to create computers and to work with them can be perceived from the the first moments when a plan to build a computer was brought to Czechoslovakia just after WWII. Likewise, enthusiasm was a cornerstone of success in creating Czech versions of ALGOL compilers in the 1960s.

The overly positive attitude could have suffered during normalisation and with the introduction of the Unified System of Electronic Computers, but even this was soon overcome, and the field attracted a fair percentage of dissidents.

The workshop is organised on the occasion of having Robert Jameson (Kansas University) as a Fulbright scholar in Prague.

We welcome participation of all researchers interested in the topic. If you are interested in presenting your work in the framework of this workshop, or if you would just like to be further informed about the programme, please, send e-mail to hdurnova@ped.muni.cz

Programme and organizational committee: Jaroslav Švelch, Robert Jameson, Helena Durnová

Preliminary programme:
Tuesday, 15 May informal dinner
Wednesday, 16. May workshop, starting at 9 AM, expected closing of the workshop at 4 PM

Venue: FF UK, nám. J. Palacha 2, Praha

Registration and grants: Participation at the workshop is free. We have some limited funding to assist those who have no other travel funds.

Call for informal presentations
====================================================
CiE 2018: Sailing Routes in the World of Computation
Kiel, Germany
July 30 – August 3, 2018
http://cie2018.uni-kiel.de
http://www.computability.org.uk
====================================================

Important dates
Submission deadline: May 1, 2018
Notification of acceptance: Within two weeks of submission

There is a remarkable difference in conference style between computer science and mathematics conferences.
Mathematics conferences allow for informal presentations that are prepared very shortly before the conference
and inform the participants about current research and work in progress. The format of computer science conferences
with pre-conference proceedings is not able to accommodate this form of scientific communication.

Continuing the tradition of past CiE conferences, also this year’s CiE conference endeavours to get the best of both worlds.
In addition to the formal presentations based on our LNCS proceedings volume, we invite researchers (both in Computer Science
and Mathematics) to present informal presentations. For this, please send us a brief description of your talk (one page) by the
submission deadline May 1st.

Important note:
Results presented as informal presentations at CiE 2018 are expected to appear or to have appeared in other conferences
with formal proceedings and/or in journals. Also papers that have just been submitted to other formally peer reviewed conferences
are eligible for being presented as informal presentations at CiE 2018.

Please submit your abstract electronically, via EasyChair at:
https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=cie2018
selecting the category Informal Presentation.

You will be notified whether your talk has been accepted for informal presentation within two weeks after your submission.

SAS Workshop 2018 – Epistemic opacity in computer simulation and machine learning
CfP: Opening the black box and finding it – dark …
Conference series: Science and Art of Simulation IV (SAS)
28.11. – 30.11.2018, HLRS, Stuttgart, Germany
http://philo.hlrs.de/?p=367

It is my pleasure to announce the start of the ANR project “What is a (computer) program?” (http://programme.hypotheses.org) with a two days event to be held on February 7-8 at MESH, rooms 1 and 2, Espace Baïetto, 2 Rue des Canonniers, 59000 Lille.

On February 7, we will have a session of the Lille-Paris séminaire “History and Philosophy of Computer Science and Computing (HEPIC)” with participation of Cliff Jones and Samuel Goyet (see http://calcul.hypotheses.org for more details). On February 8 we will have the workshop “Models between structures and meanings of programs” which introduces the project followed by several talks from members of the project.

In order to register (February 7 and/or 8), please send a mail with your affiliation to: liesbeth.demol@univ-lille3.fr. Registration is free but required in order to attend.

/Abstract for the workshop/ What is a (computer) program? This is a deceivingly simple question which today has many different answers that affect quite basic societal issues such as problems of responsability and accountability. The main assumption of the project PROGRAMme is that in order to give a proper analysis of the notion of program, one needs to give an account and take into account the following three structuring and historically-developed modalities of “program”:

(1) physical: program as stored and executed on a machine
(2) formal: program as (formal) text
(3) socio-technical: program as used and made by people

The ambition then is to offer a historico-philosophical analysis of “program”, structured along these three modalities. One basic methodological approach is to focus on “models” and their abstractions, where “models” are understood in their most generic sense and can refer to both concrete machine models (and how these shape, for instance, program code) as well as to more abstract models like lambda-calculus.
The aim of this workshop is then to introduce the project as well as to offer a set of more in-depth studies focusing on the issue of how models are reciprocally developed and shaped by both the structures and meanings of programs where both structure and meaning can relate to each of the three program modalities. As such, this workshop will deepen the discussions initiated at the roundtable “What is a (computer) program?” (https://programme.hypotheses.org/prelaunch_en) as well as develop some basic themes to be included in future research collaborations.

/Programme:/
09.00-11.00: Introduction of the project and its members
11.00-11.30: BREAK
11.30-12.15: Mark Priestley, “Program structure and its graphical representation c. 1946”
12.15-13.00: Giuseppe Primiero, “Identity criteria for programs”
13.00-14.30: LUNCH
14.00-14.45: Edgar Daylight, “Towards a History of Model-Modellee Conflations in Computer Science”
14.45-15.30: Pierre Mounier-Kuhn, “Les notions de ‘programmes” dans la machine de Couffignal”/The notion of `programs’ in the Couffignal machine”
15.30-16.00: BREAK
16.00-16.45: Ray Turner, “The Ways of Computational Abstraction”
16.45-17.30: Maël Pégny, “Are machine learning algorithms programs?”
17.30-18.15: Tomas Petricek, “The Inner Life of Programming Concepts”

The workshop and séminaire are supported by the platform DATA of MESHS and the the ANR project PROGRAMme.