[TYPES/announce] RA positions in Swansea, UK on Programming Language Components and Specifications

[Anton Setzer]

Dear all,
here in Swansea there are 2 RA positions in the area of
Programming Language Components and Specifications
available which should be of great interest to type theoretists.

Anton Setzer

Two 3-year Research Assistant Posts

    PLanCompS: Programming Language Components and Specifications

    Department of Computer Science, Swansea University

    Salary scale: GBP 26,629 to 29,972 per annum.

    Closing date: 09 Jun 2011

These two posts will support the EPSRC joint research project
PLanCompS: Programming Language Components and Specifications.
The Swansea team led by Professor Mosses at the Department of
Computer Science, Swansea University will be working with teams
from Royal Holloway, University of London and City University
London; Microsoft Research Cambridge is a project partner.
The Department of Computer Science at Swansea University has a
strong and long-established record in the area of fundamentals
of computing.

The project will develop and test a novel component-based
framework for design, specification and implementation of
programming languages. It includes:
 * specification of a collection of highly reusable language
   components called funcons (fundamental constructs);
 * translation of major general-purpose programming languages
   (C#, Java, F#) and domain-specific languages to funcons;
 * validation of funcon and language specifications by
   testing generated prototype implementations;
 * design and implementation of an Integrated Development
   Environment (IDE) for component-based specification; and
 * creation of a digital library of language specifications.
See the preliminary project page at www.plancomps.org for a
more detailed overview.

The posts provide an excellent opportunity for researchers
interested in the formal specification and implementation of
programming languages, and in the tools needed to support
practical language development based on formal semantics.
They would particularly suit candidates with a background
in theoretical computer science who are interested in
practical applications; a further post based at Royal Holloway
focussing on the IDE, frontend and backend tooling is expected
to be advertised shortly.

Candidates for the posts at Swansea are required to have
a first degree in Computer Science (or a closely related
subject), to have actively engaged in and contributed to
writing and publishing research papers, to be able to
understand and specify formal semantics of programming
languages, and to be able to program in C# or Java as well
as in a functional or logic programming language. Candidates
who already have (or will soon complete) a PhD in Computer
Science (or a closely related subject) will be preferred.

It is anticipated that interviews will be held on Thursday
23 June 2011.

Informal enquiries may be made to Professor Peter Mosses at
P.D.Mosses at swansea.ac.uk.

For details of how to apply, see the vacancy announcement at
www.swansea.ac.uk/personnel/vacancies/research/posttitle,58343,en.php

The PLanCompS project is currently recruiting also two PhD
students - see www.plancomps.org for links to the announcements.