Update on Third CLOS Users and Implementors Workshop

[Andreas Paepcke <paepcke@hplap.hpl.hp.com>]

I don't know how well the OOPSLA information dissemination machinery works.
So here is a repeat of the original call for participation in this year's
CLOS Workshop and a bit of update information: The day of the Workshop is
now set: The Games will commence on

      Sunday, Oct. 21 '90 in the context of OOPSLA in Ottawa

I attach the original summons of the gladiators for your convenience.
Several of you have asked for an extension, partly due to AAAI. Please let
me know if you have had trouble with something like this as well.

For those of you who are interested in attending, please let me know your
expectations to help me plan the agenda details successfully. Which
information do you minimally want to take home with you? Would you like to
hear a particular person speak? Do you like presentations to guide
discussions or are you into free-style wrestling? (Be warned that there
will be metal detectors at the door). Do you have particular discussion
topics on your mind? Please drop me a note.

Looking forward,

Andreas

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; Original Call for Participation ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;


            Third CLOS Users and Implementor's  Workshop 1990
                              `Now What?'


The first CLOS Workshop in 1988 was organized to bring the CLOS community
together and to make known which areas were being addressed in university
and industrial centers. The 1989 Workshop was dominated by introspection,
the examination of issues important at the time.

CLOS has now matured to a point where it is time to take stock and to
understand what should happen next. One goal will need to be the projection
of CLOS out into the community. An obviously important component of this is
the organization and publication of projects that use CLOS. A second
component must be a clarification of what is still missing and how CLOS
should be improved or completed. A third component, finally, is reflection
on how the language has advanced the state of the art or has a potential for
doing this.

This year's Workshop is to serve a dual purpose. The first is to let us
touch bases to learn what has been happening in the CLOS community and what
is to be done next. The second is to provide material and direction for the
"CLOS Report", a publication that will highlight the many facets of the
language and its history. This will be a collection of full length papers
to be published some time after the Workshop. We hope that our meeting and
its associated short papers can draw attention to contributions that should
make their way into such a collection.

The format of the Workshop reflects these two goals. We will try to divide
the day into three units. The first will be a critical look back to where
we have been. We will try to identify, collect and evaluate decisions we
made to ensure that we learn all we can from CLOS' rich, hectic history.
This could involve an analysis of what worked well and what went wrong. It
would also be useful simply to spell out which constraints led to
particular decisions and whether our resolutions were meaningful.

The second unit will be an attempt to compile a representative list of
projects which use CLOS for various purposes. Our goal will be to assemble
a portfolio of projects that illuminate different aspects of the language.
These could, for instance, include the metaobject protocol, CLOS' approach
to inheritance, method combination or other issues. Emphasis will be on
broad coverage.

The third unit, finally, will attempt to produce a roadmap, or at least a
series of mile stones to identify what needs to happen during the next two
or three years and how it could be achieved. The hope is that this unit
will profit from the review and survey of the first two units.

To get units one and three started we plan to invite two speakers each, who
will present opposing, controversial views of ten minutes each. Afterwards,
we will turn to plenum discussion.

The Workshop logistics will follow OOPSLA ACM guidelines.  Attendance will
have to be limited to 30 contributors. Each contributor will need to submit
a short position paper of two to five pages. Each paper should be
classified to indicate which of the three units the paper addresses:

                     1. Looking back
                     2. Taking stock
                     3. Future needs

To summarize: The `looking back' unit has the purpose of isolating what we
learned. The `taking stock' unit is to produce a portfolio of projects that
highlight different aspects of the language. The `future needs' unit should
try to clarify what needs to be done next. Papers may include compilations
of issues, provocative questions or hypotheses which can be used to
stimulate and guide discussion in particular areas.

The papers will be reviewed, and up to 30 of them will be selected for
inclusion in the Workshop. We will try to have these papers bound and
mailed to participants before OOPSLA to make the Workshop as efficient as
possible.

Please submit five copies of your papers by August 1 1990 to:

                  Andreas Paepcke
                  Hewlett-Packard Laboratory
                  1501 Page Mill Rd.
                  Palo Alto, Ca. 94304-1126
 
                  paepcke@hplabs.hp.com
                  Tel: 415-857-7398
                  Fax: 415-857-8526

We also welcome suggestions for the Workshop format, suggestions for
speakers or other feedback that will help make our Workshop a success.