Software engineering, programming methodology, languages, verification, general technology, publication culture, and more
It is easy to engage in generalities; it is risky to make firm predictions. In the first case there is no reckoning; in the second one the actual events can prove you wrong for everyone to see. I am taking the risk. Here is my prediction: Putin’s energy blackmail (Western Europe will freeze this winter!) … Read more
Short version: the full text of my Introduction to the Theory of Programming Languages book (second printing, 1991) is now available. This page has more details including the table of chapters, and a link to the PDF (3.3MB, 448 + xvi pages). The book is a survey of methods for language description, particularly semantics (operational, … Read more
I have released for general usage the chapter on axiomatic semantics of my book Introduction to the Theory of Programming Languages. It’s old but I think it is still a good introduction to the topic. It explains: The notion of theory (with a nice — I think — example borrowed from an article by Luca … Read more
In the heavy context of current news I hope it is permissible to engage in lighter observations. Some time ago I was briefly in Dresden, in the midst of a mayoral election campaign, and I noticed posters for this candidate: “Dirk Hilbert, Competent For Dresden”. Apparently it worked since he is now mayor, but do … Read more
My book Object-Oriented Software Construction, 2nd edition (see the Wikipedia page) has become hard to get. There are various copies floating around the Web but they often use bad typography (wrong colors) and are unauthorized. In response to numerous requests and in anticipation of the third edition I have been able to make it available … Read more
The latest issue of the New York Review of Books contains a book review by George Stauffer about Alban Berg with this bewildering sentence about Berg’s childhood: He showed few signs of musical talent as a youth aside from informal piano lessons, reading through the scores of songs and operas, and playing four-hand arrangements of … Read more
… is to have a top scientist spot your talent and encourage you, however humble your status may be then. Wikipedia has a terse entry about Dirk Rembrandtsz (with “sz” at the end), presented as a “seventeenth-century Dutch cartographer, mathematician, surveyor, astronomer, teacher and [religious dignitary]” with “more than thirty scientific publications to his name” … Read more
It is customary for an article to carry some kind of lesson or moral. This one does not. Or to be more exact it does have a lesson, several perhaps, but they are left to the reader to draw. It is also customary, for an article that is written as a tribute to deceased people, … Read more
The Chair of Software Engineering, my group at the Schaffhausen Institute of Technology in Switzerland (SIT), has open positions for both PhD students and postdocs. We are looking for candidates with a passion for reliable software and a mix of theoretical knowledge and practical experience in software engineering. Candidates should have degrees in computer science … Read more