[TYPES/announce] Call for Participation: Workshop on Scalable Language Specification, June 25-27, Cambridge, UK

[Andrew Kennedy]

CALL FOR PARTICIPATION
SLS 2013: Workshop on Scalable Language Specification

* June 25-27, 2013, Cambridge, UK

* Registration deadline: May 27, 2013
* Deadline for accommodation at Downing College: May 13, 2013
* Web page: http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/events/sls2013

The focus of this workshop is on formal language specification frameworks and how they scale up when applied to larger languages. The workshop provides a forum for discussing practical and theoretical issues, and aims to promote dissemination and collaboration between the developers and users of language specification frameworks.

Background
==========
Many hundreds of programming languages have been designed and implemented, and dozens are currently in widespread use.
Older languages evolve to incorporate new features, and new programming languages are continually being developed - especially domain-specific languages, designed for use in a particular sector.

Each language needs to be precisely specified. A specification of a major language usually consists of a succinct formal grammar, determining its syntax, together with a lengthy informal explanation of its intended semantics. Unfortunately, such informal explanations are inherently imprecise, open to misinterpretation, and not amenable to validation. In the few cases where the semantics of major languages have been specified formally, the required effort appears to have been huge, which has discouraged wider adoption of formal semantics.

Objectives
==========
The workshop gathers together leading researchers working on the development and specification of programming and domain-specific languages. One of the objectives is to clarify which features of the various specification frameworks affect scaling up to major languages. A further objective is to raise awareness of current developments of practical relevance, including tool support for language specification, prototyping, and verification.

The invited speakers will present features and applications of particular specification frameworks. The workshop programme will also include presentations of submitted papers, time for informal discussions, and a poster display.

Location
========
The workshop will be held at Microsoft Research in Cambridge, UK.
Accommodation for a limited number of participants has been reserved at Downing College. Note that the deadline for applying for accommodation at Downing College is *May 13th 2013*.

Invited speakers
================
* Egon Börger           (University of Pisa)
* Mark van den Brand    (Eindhoven University of Technology)
* Kevin Hammond         (University of St Andrews)
* Sir Tony Hoare        (Microsoft Research Cambridge)
* Paul Klint            (CWI, Amsterdam)
* Shriram Krishnamurthi (Brown University)
* José Meseguer         (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)
* Grigore Roşu          (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)
* Dave Schmidt          (Kansas State University)
* Peter Sewell          (University of Cambridge)

Programme and Registration
============
See the workshop web page at http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/events/sls2013
for full details of the programme and how to register for the workshop.

Posters
=======
Registered participants who wish to display a poster related to the workshop objectives should submit a PDF. Details can be found on the workshop website.

Organisers
==========
The workshop is organised and sponsored by Microsoft Research Cambridge in collaboration with the PLanCompS research project.
The invited speakers are funded by EPSRC.

Andrew Kennedy
Programming Principles and Tools Group
Microsoft Research Cambridge
akenn at microsoft.com

Peter Mosses
Department of Computer Science
Swansea University
p.d.mosses at swan.ac.uk
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