sss ssss rrrrrrrrrrr
ssss ss rrrr rrrr
sssss s rrrr rrrr
ssssss rrrr rrrr
ssssssss rrrr rrrr
ssssss rrrrrrrrr
s ssssss rrrr rrrr
ss sssss rrrr rrrr
sss sssss rrrr rrrr
s sssssss rrrrr rrrrr
+===================================================+
+======= Quality Techniques Newsletter =======+
+======= December 2003 =======+
+===================================================+
QUALITY TECHNIQUES NEWSLETTER (QTN) is E-mailed monthly to
subscribers worldwide to support the Software Research, Inc. (SR),
eValid, and TestWorks user communities and to other interested
parties to provide information of general use to the worldwide
internet and software quality and testing community.
Permission to copy and/or re-distribute is granted, and secondary
circulation is encouraged by recipients of QTN, provided that the
entire document/file is kept intact and this complete copyright
notice appears in all copies. Information on how to subscribe or
unsubscribe is at the end of this issue. (c) Copyright 2003 by
Software Research, Inc.
========================================================================
Contents of This Issue
o Response to Boris Beizer's Article, by Don O'Neill
o SQRL Report Summary
o eValid: A Quick Summary
o 5th International Conference on Electronic Commerce and Web
Technologies (EC-Web 2004)
o IEEE Micro: Special Issue on Embedded Systems
o ISSTA 2004: Internaional Symposium on Software Testing and
Analysis
o International Journal of Web Services
o SAFECOMP 2004: 23rd International Conference on Computer
Safety, Reliability and Security
o QTN Article Submittal, Subscription Information
========================================================================
Seasons' Greetings from Software Research
We wish all QTN readers everywhere the very best for the 2003-2004
Holiday Season. 2003 was a very difficult year for the entire Software
Quality community, but the signs are good and we are looking forward
to a great 2004!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
========================================================================
Response to Boris Beizer's Article
by
Don O'Neill
Global Software Competitiveness
Executive Vice President
Center for National Software Studies
I was very pleased to see Boris Beizer's essay on "On Being
Competitive." I have been researching and studying global software
competitiveness since 1996 in association with the Center for
National Software Studies (CNSS), and wanted to share some thoughts
on competitiveness.
Boris Beizer warned against adopting a too narrow definition of
competitiveness. He then settles for permanence and love as the
pillars of competitiveness. Competitiveness is fleeting and lacks
any sense of permanence or entitlement; it must be earned over and
over again by delivering value add and earning customer satisfaction
and customer loyalty. Unlike love, competitiveness is more like
warfare where the battle strategy is to dominate the market niche;
the ground tactics are to deliver the value that earns customer
satisfaction; the weapons arsenal includes deep domain knowledge,
product engineering skills, organization process maturity, and
strategic software management; consumables include personnel
resources; and perimeter threats involve government intrusion, new
realities of software engineering, and change.The battle strategy is
to dominate the market niche.
The Council on Competitiveness defines competitiveness as the
capacity of goods and services to meet the test of international
markets while maintaining or boosting the real wages of workers. Now
this definition may not appeal to everyone, but it is in the right
direction for a software profession that wishes to engage in shaping
public policy.
In association with the Center for National Software Studies (CNSS),
I have identified the enterprise capabilities needed to achieve
global software competition. In addition, leading indicators have
been identified to guide assessment and improvement of these
capabilities along with models to reason about competitiveness in
various dimensions.
The strategic management of global competitiveness in software
calls for setting direction, providing fuel, and controlling the
business environment including the supplier, the customer, the
competition, and change and event threats. Accordingly, enterprise
maturity in global software competitiveness is achieved in five
levels.
Level 1 is the absence of expectation, achievement, and engagement
in the conversation on global software competitiveness. Hopefully an
industry conversation on global software competitiveness can be
stimulated as a first step towards being competitive.
Level 2 is associated with the availability of personnel skills and
resources and their deployment. Software personnel are the most
precious resource a globally competitive enterprise can possess. It
is not simply a human resources task of correcting turnover through
recruitment; instead software and its people impact the culture of
the enterprise... profoundly. Supplier control is achieved by
establishing an attractive workplace culture, achieving maturity in
process and skills, deepening industry relationships, and retaining
personnel.
Level 3 is associated with value to the customer derived through
vigorous competition for current market niche with mature products
that deliver value and earn customer satisfaction. Controlling the
customer has many faces. It is not simply satisfying and delighting;
instead it is delivering value and achieving total customer
satisfaction through an increasingly intimate relationship. Customer
control is achieved by deepening customer relationships, balancing
business factors, and achieving total customer satisfaction.
Level 4 is associated with competing for the future by setting the
industry standard and practicing reuse and domain architecture
technology to meet it. Controlling the competition is the preferred
tactic. It is not simply competing head on head with falling
margins; instead it is inventing a new niche, occupying it alone,
and avoiding head on head competition... perhaps even cooper ating.
Competitor control is achieved by deepening community relationships,
fielding superior products, and setting the direction for the niche.
Level 5 is associated with managing change and controlling event
threats through strategic software management that raises the
ability to improve software to a core competence. Event threats and
change introduce uncertainty... where luck plays a role in the
process of experimentation, and chaos is the ethos of
competitiveness. Event threat control is achieved by guarding
against government intrusion, applying strategic software
management, performing due diligence, and understanding reality.
Unfortunately the competitiveness of the U.S. software industry is
eroding and approaching the tipping point as its practitioners adopt
asymmetric tactics that deliver immediate benefits at the expense of
future health and well being. It is an arresting fact that software
competitiveness is being jeopardized by a widespread dependence on
outsourcing and foreign nationals to reduce costs, a willingness to
field software products with defects to achieve time to market, and
the neglect of software research and education. These asymmetric
tactics are short cuts that produce short term results, perhaps even
increased profitability, but leave an enterprise with only a brittle
shell of competitive capability.
========================================================================
SQRL Report No. 18
The Seven Virtues of Simple Type Theory
William M. Farmer
Abstract: Simple type theory, also known as higher-order logic, is
a natural extension of first-order logic which is simple, elegant,
highly expressive, and practical. This paper surveys the virtues of
simple type theory and attempts to show that simple type theory is
an attractive alternative to first-order logic for practical-minded
scientists, engineers, and mathematicians. It recommends that
simple type theory be incorporated into introductory logic courses
offered by mathematics departments.
The web address for downloading reports is:
http://www.cas.mcmaster.ca/sqrl/sqrl_reports.html
========================================================================
eValid: A Quick Summary
http://www.e-valid.com
Readers of QTN probably are aware of SR's eValid technology offering
that addresses website quality issues.
Here is a summary of eValid's benefits and advantages.
o InBrowser(tm) Technology. All the test functions are built into
the eValid browser. eValid offers total accuracy and natural
access to "all things web." If you can browse it, you can test
it. And, eValid's unique capabilities are used by a growing
number of firms as the basis for their active services
monitoring offerings.
o Functional Testing, Regression Testing. Easy to use GUI based
record and playback with full spectrum of validation functions.
The eVmanage component provides complete, natural test suite
management.
o LoadTest Server Loading. Multiple eValid's play back multiple
independent user sessions -- unparalleled accuracy and
efficiency. Plus: No Virtual Users! Single and multiple
machine usages with consolidated reporting.
o Mapping and Site Analysis. The built-in WebSite spider travels
through your website and applies a variety of checks and filters
to every accessible page. All done entirely from the users'
perspective -- from a browser -- just as your users will see
your website.
o Desktop, Enterprise Products. eValid test and analysis engines
are delivered at moderate costs for desktop use, and at very
competitive prices for use throughout your enterprise.
o Performance Tuning Services. Outsourcing your server loading
activity can surely save your budget and might even save your
neck! Realistic scenarios, applied from multiple driver
machines, impose totally realistic -- no virtual user! -- loads
on your server.
o Web Services Testing/Validation. eValid tests of web services
start begin by analyzing the WSDL file and creating a custom
HTML testbed page for the candidate service. Special data
generation and analysis commands thoroughly test the web service
and automatically identify a range of failures.
o HealthCheck Subscription. For websites up to 1000 pages, eValid
HealthCheck services provide basic detailed analyses of smaller
websites in a very economical, very efficient way.
o eValidation Managed Service. Being introduced this Fall, the
eValidation Managed WebSite Quality Service offers comprehensive
user-oriented detailed quality analysis for any size website,
including those with 10,000 or more pages.
Resellers, Consultants, Contractors, OEMers Take Note
We have an active program for product and service resellers. We'd
like to hear from you if you are interested in joining the growing
eValid "quality website" delivery team. We also provide OEM
solutions for internal and/or external monitoring, custom-faced
testing browsers, and a range of other possibilities. Let us hear
from you!
========================================================================
5th International Conference on
Electronic Commerce and Web Technologies
E C - W e b 2004
August 30 - September 3, 2004
Zaragoza, Spain
http://www.dexa.org
A large number of organizations are nowadays exploiting the
opportunities offered by Internet-based technologies for electronic
commerce. Companies have put their product catalogues on the Web,
search engines and directories allow electronic market participants
around the globe to locate potential trading partners, and a set of
protocols and standards have been established to exchange goods and
services via the Internet. Still, numerous technical issues need to
be resolved and the amount of innovation and change in this field is
prodigious. The main objective of this conference is to bring
together researchers from different disciplines, developers, and
users all interested in electronic commerce and Web technologies and
to assess current methodologies and new research directions.
Although a natural focus will be on computer science issues, we
welcome research contributions from economics, business
administration, law, and other disciplines. EC-Web 2004 is
organized by the DEXA Association in parallel with DEXA 2004 (15th
International Conference on Database and Expert Systems
Applications).
The major topics of interest include but are not limited to:
* Auction and Negotiation Technology
* Agent-Mediated Electronic Commerce
* Business Process Integration and Interworkflow
* Business Process Modeling
* Customer Relationship Management
* Decision Support and Optimization in EC
* Digital Goods and Products
* Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)
* Enterprise Application Integration
* Electronic Contracting
* Formation of Supply Chains, Coalitions, and Virtual Enterprises
* Grid Computing for EC
* Intellectual Property Licensing
* IPR, Legal and Privacy Issues
* Knowledge Discovery in Web-based IS and EC
* Languages and Ontologies for Describing Goods, Services, and Contracts
* Mobile Commerce
* P2P-Computing
* Pricing and Metering of On-Demand Services
* Quality of Service (Performance, Security, Reliabilty, etc.)
* Recommender Systems
* Rule Languages and Rule-based Systems
* Security and Trust in EC
* Semantic Web
* Supply Chain Management and Supplier Relationship Management
* Ubiquitous and Pervasive Technologies for EC
* Usability Issues for EC
* User Behaviour, Web Usage Mining
* Web Data Quality Aspects
* Web Data Visualization
* Web Services Computing
* Web Site Monitoring
* XML-based Standards
* Applications and Case Studies in EC
General Chair: Kurt Bauknecht, University of Zurich, Switzerland
Program Chairs: Martin Bichler, Technical University of Munich,
Germany (bichler@in.tum.de); Birgit Proell, FAW, Johannes Kepler
University Linz, Austria (birgit@faw.uni-linz.ac.at)
Conference Organization Office: Gabriela Wagner, FAW, Johannes
Kepler University Linz, Austria (gabriela@faw.uni-linz.ac.at).
========================================================================
IEEE MICRO July-August 2004
Special Issue:-
Embedded Systems: Architecture, Design, and Tools
Guest Editors: Alessio Bechini, University of Pisa, Italy
Thomas M. Conte, N. Carolina State University, Raleigh
Cosimo Antonio Prete, University of Pisa, Italy
The design of embedded systems is rapidly becoming more complex and
challenging. The main causes are the need to fulfill stringent and
sometimes conflicting requirements, and the widespread growth of
computing-intensive applications intended for embedded platforms.
New features are also becoming common for dedicated software; these
features include advanced GUIs with quick response time, Internet
access, wireless connectivity, integrated multimedia support, and
DBMS access. To meet these needs, the capabilities of embedded
platforms (SOC multiprocessors, heterogeneous ASICs, and platform-
based systems) have improved in diverse ways, influencing the design
process.
Designers must pursue requirements compliance at every level of the
embedded system, from the CPU-internal parts to the system
architecture and software modules. Despite recent achievements,
methodologies and tools for design space exploration could benefit
from further investigation. For example, recent trends in software
development induce designers to operate at the architectural level
and tackle performance problems following new approaches. Moreover,
both compilers and OSs play a crucial role in integrating hardware
and software modules into an efficient system, thus affecting the
way designers build architectures today.
This special issue will present state-of-the-art techniques and
methodologies to guide design space exploration, focusing on
practical approaches from industry as well as more forward-looking
solutions. We will especially focus on issues in architectural
design and frameworks that support designers in their difficult
task.
Topics of interest:
* tools and techniques (such as footprint control)
for reducing resource need;
* performance evaluation and tuning in design space exploration;
* performance-centric design techniques;
* design support for parallel embedded systems;
* techniques for optimal use of SoC platforms;
* architectures for high-performance embedded platforms;
* architectures for specific application areas;
* new benchmarking techniques and strategies;
* state-of-the-art hardware-aware compilation techniques;
* compilation issues for embedded code;
* power-aware hardware-software design techniques;
* real-time software and hardware support for embedded systems;
* effective reuse strategies for hardware or software components;
* software engineering for designing embedded systems;
* the design of software architectures for embedded systems;
* support for Java-enabled systems;
* debugging, testing, and validation of embedded systems; and
* case studies.
Submit manuscripts by accessing the IEEE Computer Society's Web-
based system, Manuscript Central. Select "Special Issue on Embedded
Processors." In addition, please send a 150-word abstract and the
title of your manuscript to Alessio Bechini
(a.bechini@ing.unipi.it).
========================================================================
International Symposium on Software Testing and Analysis
(ISSTA 2004)
Boston, Massachusetts, July 11-14, 2004
http://www.cs.orst.edu/issta2004/
Co-Located with the 16th Computer-Aided Verification Conference
(CAV 2004)
ISSTA is the leading research conference in software testing and
analysis, bringing together academics, industrial researchers, and
practitioners to share ideas, problems, and experiences. The ISSTA
program will include workshops, papers, panels, and invited
presentations.
ISSTA 2004 is co-located with the 16th Computer-Aided Verification
Conference (CAV 2004, http://www.dcs.warwick.ac.uk/CAV/), at the
Omni Parker House Hotel in Boston, Mass. The conferences will hold
joint sessions on July 14th, and CAV will continue until the 17th.
Reduced registration will be available for those attending all or
part of both conferences.
Authors are invited to submit technical papers describing original
research in testing or analysis of computer software. Papers
describing theoretical or empirical research, new techniques, or
in-depth case studies of testing and analysis methods and tools are
welcome.
Submissions are also encouraged in the following categories:
- Tools papers describing software systems of
interest to ISSTA attendees;
- Proposals for posters or informal demos presenting
recent or on-going research;
- Proposals for panel sessions on current testing
and analysis topics.
ISSTA 2004 is sponsored by the Association for Computing Machinery
(ACM) and the ACM Special Interest Group on Software Engineering
(SIGSOFT) in cooperation with the ACM Special Interest Group on
Programming Languages (SIGPLAN).
General Chair: George Avrunin, U. Massachusetts, USA,
avrunin@math.umass.edu
Program Chair: Gregg Rothermel, Oregon State U., USA,
grother@cs.orst.edu
========================================================================
International Journal of Web Services (IJWS)
ISSN (PRINT): 1741-1106 ISSN (ONLINE): 1741-1114
A Publication of Inderscience Publishers (www.inderscience.com)
The International Journal of Web Services proposes and fosters
discussion on web service technology with a focus on its
application, emphasising issues of architecture, implementation, and
standardisation. This perspective acknowledges the complexity and
challenges developers are currently faced with when designing and
deploying web service based solutions. As one cornerstone of web
service technology, the journal will also include topics on
standardisation with special emphasis on in-depth analysis of
practical applications of existing standards as well as proposals
for general solutions to still-missing pieces.
OBJECTIVES: The objectives of the journal are to establish an
effective channel of communication between decision makers, academic
and research institutions and persons concerned with the practical
deployment of web services in industry. It also aims to promote and
coordinate developments in the field of web services. By tackling
issues of current research, standardisation, and deployment, it
brings together people from both academia and industry. By allowing
them to share new ideas and exchange best practice approaches, it
creates a vital resource for both to drive future work and leverage
web service usage. The international dimension is emphasised in
order to overcome cultural and national barriers and to meet the
needs of accelerating technological and ecological change and
changes in the global economy.
READERSHIP: The journal provides a vehicle to help industry
professionals, academics, researchers and decision makers, working
in the field of web service technology, engineering and
standardisation, to disseminate information and to learn from each
others' work.
CONTENTS: The journal publishes original papers, review papers,
technical reports, new specification proposals, case studies,
conference reports, management reports, book reviews, notes,
commentaries, and news. Special Issues devoted to important topics
in web service technology will occasionally be published.
SCOPE: Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the
following:
- Web service architectures
- Service oriented architectures
- Web service security
- Deployment of web service-based solutions in large organisations
- Case studies describing web service projects
- Deployment and appraisal of current standardisation
- Business processes based on web services
- Web services in B2B and B2Bi
- Practical applications of Grid computing
- Missing standards of all layers of the web service stack
- Performance issues
- Security mechanisms, especially their cross-platform interoperability
- Integration of web services into existing infrastructures
- Legacy systems wrapping and integration based on web services
- Cross-organisational collaborations based on web services
SUBMISSIONS:
Papers and queries should be submitted to:
Editor-in-Chief: Dr. Liang-Jie Zhang
e-Business Solutions & Autonomic Computing Dept.
IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, 1101 Kitchawan Road, Route 134,
Yorktown Heights, NY 10598, USA
Tel: 914-945-3976
E-mail: zhanglj@us.ibm.com
========================================================================
SAFECOMP 2004
The 23rd International Conference on
Computer Safety, Reliability and Security
21-24 September 2004, Potsdam, Germany
www.safecomp.org
Since it was established in 1979, by The European Workshop on
Industrial Computer Systems, Technical Committee 7 on Reliability,
Safety and Security, EWICS TC7, SAFECOMP has contributed to the
progress of the state-of-the-art in dependable applications of
computer systems.
SAFECOMP is an annual event covering the state-of-the-art,
experience and new trends in the areas of computer safety,
reliability and security regarding dependable applications of
computer systems.
SAFECOMP provides ample opportunity to exchange insights and
experience on emerging methods and practical applications across the
borders of different disciplines.
Scope of the Conference
SAFECOMP focuses on safety-critical computer applications and is a
platform for knowledge and technology transfer between academia,
industry and research institutions. Papers are invited on all
aspects of dependability and survivability of critical computer-
based systems of systems and infrastructures. Due to the increasing
awareness and importance of security issues, SAFECOMP 2004
emphasises work in relation to security of safety-critical systems.
Nowadays practical experience points out the need of
multidisciplinary approaches to deal with the nature of critical
complex settings. SAFECOMP, therefore, is open to multidisciplinary
work enhancing our understanding across disciplines.
SAFECOMP welcomes original work neither published nor submitted
elsewhere on both industrial and research experience. Examples of
industrial and research topics include:
Safety Foundations: Fault Tolerance; Distributed and Real-time
Systems; Diversity; Maintenance; Reliability; Formal Methods; Human
Factors; Risk Analysis; Open Source Software and Safety; Standards,
Guidelines and Certification; Commercial-Off-The-Shelf;
Verification, Validation and Testing; Analysis and Modelling;
Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches
Safety Applications: Aerospace and Avionics; Automotive; Medical
Systems; Power Plants; Railways; Robotics; Chemical Industry;
Process Industry; Programmable Electronic Systems; Accident Reports
and Management
Security in Safety-Critical Systems: Conflicts, Interfaces,
Integration Approaches between Safety, Reliability and Security;
Accidents caused by Security Breaches; Critical National Information
Infrastructures; Security-critical Safety Applications
General Chair: Peter Liggesmeyer, DE
EWICS Chair: Udo Voges, DE
Programme Co-Chairs: Maritta Heisel, Stefan Wittmann, DE
Organizing Committee: Katrin Augustin, Hans-Peter Wagner, DE
========================================================================
------------>>> QTN ARTICLE SUBMITTAL POLICY <<<------------
========================================================================
QTN is E-mailed around the middle of each month to over 10,000
subscribers worldwide. To have your event listed in an upcoming
issue E-mail a complete description and full details of your Call
for Papers or Call for Participation to .
QTN's submittal policy is:
o Submission deadlines indicated in "Calls for Papers" should
provide at least a 1-month lead time from the QTN issue date. For
example, submission deadlines for "Calls for Papers" in the March
issue of QTN On-Line should be for April and beyond.
o Length of submitted non-calendar items should not exceed 350 lines
(about four pages). Longer articles are OK but may be serialized.
o Length of submitted calendar items should not exceed 60 lines.
o Publication of submitted items is determined by Software Research,
Inc., and may be edited for style and content as necessary.
DISCLAIMER: Articles and items appearing in QTN represent the
opinions of their authors or submitters; QTN disclaims any
responsibility for their content.
TRADEMARKS: eValid, HealthCheck, eValidation, TestWorks, STW,
STW/Regression, STW/Coverage, STW/Advisor, TCAT, and the SR, eValid,
and TestWorks logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of
Software Research, Inc. All other systems are either trademarks or
registered trademarks of their respective companies.
========================================================================
-------->>> QTN SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION <<<--------
========================================================================
To SUBSCRIBE to QTN, to UNSUBSCRIBE a current subscription, to
CHANGE an address (an UNSUBSCRIBE and a SUBSCRIBE combined) please
use the convenient Subscribe/Unsubscribe facility at:
<http://www.soft.com/News/QTN-Online/subscribe.html>.
As a backup you may send Email direct to as follows:
TO SUBSCRIBE: Include this phrase in the body of your message:
subscribe
TO UNSUBSCRIBE: Include this phrase in the body of your message:
unsubscribe
Please, when using either method to subscribe or unsubscribe, type
the exactly and completely. Requests to unsubscribe
that do not match an email address on the subscriber list are
ignored.
QUALITY TECHNIQUES NEWSLETTER
Software Research, Inc.
1663 Mission Street, Suite 400
San Francisco, CA 94103 USA
Phone: +1 (415) 861-2800
Toll Free: +1 (800) 942-SOFT (USA Only)
FAX: +1 (415) 861-9801
Web: <http://www.soft.com/News/QTN-Online>