News

Dear Members,

the last month has been very important and intense for the Commission.

From 4 to 7 October, the 4th International Conference on the History and Philosophy of Computing has taken place (https://hapoc2017.sciencesconf.org/): we all wish to thank again the Chairs Helena Durnová (PdF MU), Jana Horáková (FF MU) and Jiří Raclavský (FF MU) for a successful and well-organised event.

At the General Assembly held in Brno during HaPoC4, the term of the First Council of the Commission has formally come to an end. We wish to thank all its previous members for their great work to create and support the Commission and welcome the new members. For the new structure of the Commission see https://hapoc.org/node/240 and https://hapoc.org/node/36.

This week we have also issued the First Call for Papers for the 4th Symposium on the History and Philosophy of Programming, to take place on 23 March 2018, at the Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford, co-located with BSHM Meeting on History of Computing, and chaired by Tomas Petricek and Ursula Martin. Details of the Symposium and the call are available at https://hapoc.org/node/241 and https://www.shift-society.org/hapop4/. The deadline for submissions is January 1st 2018.

It is an unfortunate coincidence that in the last few weeks a bug in our host’s SMTP server has prevented the posts on the website to be automatically announced via email to the members. The problem is now fixed and we are using this blog post to give you a summary update.

Please remember that the website is available to members for posting news and publications, you are welcome to make use of it.

We are all looking forward to the next steps of the Commission and its Community.
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The HaPoc Council

In a society where computers have become ubiquitous, it is necessary to develop a deeper understanding of the nature of computer programs, not just from the technical viewpoint, but from a broader historical and philosophical perspective. A historical awareness of the evolution of programming not only helps to clarify the complex structure of computing, but it also provides an insight in what programming was, is and could be in the future. Philosophy, on the other hand, helps to tackle fundamental questions about the nature of programs, programming languages and programming as a discipline.

HaPoP 2018 is the fourth edition of the Symposium on History and Philosophy of Programming, organised by HaPoC, Commission on the History and Philosophy of Computing. As in the previous editions, we are convinced that an interdisciplinary approach is necessary for understanding programming with its multifaceted nature. As such, we welcome participation by researchers and practitioners coming from a diversity of backgrounds, including historians, philosophers, computer scientists and professional software developers.

In addition to submissions in a wide range of areas traditional for HaPoP (outlined below), we especially welcome submissions that explore the nature of scientific progress with respect to computer programming as a discipline. We are interested in investigations concerning the methodology of computer programming, whether it follows a form of scientific method that allows it to increase its problem solving ability, whether its development more is akin to science, engineering or rather art, and what examples from the the history of programming can be provided to support either argument.

For more information, see the symposium web site at https://www.shift-society.org/hapop4/

We are happy to announce the new HaPoC council:

Edgar Daylight (Siegen University)
Liesbeth De Mol (CNRS/UMR 8163 STL Université de Lille)
Simone Martini (Università di Bologna)
Tomas Petricek, vice-president (Alan Turing Institute)
Giuseppe Primiero, president (Middlesex University)
Viola schiaffonati (Politecnico Milano)

We also take the opportunity to thank the previous council members for their work in helping to set up the commission.

We are happy to announce that the next HaPoC General Assembly will be held on Friday October 6, at 18:00, during HaPoC-4 in Brno. All members of the commission are cordially invited to attend the GA. For the agenda of the General Assembly, see the pdf below.