[TYPES/announce] Workshop on Fun With Formal Methods: Call For Papers.

Sat May 3 01:08:41 EDT 2014

2nd workshop on Fun With Formal Methods 

(FWFM-2014,  <http://www.easychair.org/smart-program/VSL2014/FWFM-cfp.html>
http://www.easychair.org/smart-program/VSL2014/FWFM-cfp.html)

Vienna, Austria, July 13, 2014 

(as a part of Vienna Summer of Logic VSL-2014,  <http://vsl2014.at/>
http://vsl2014.at/ in affiliation with 

(CAV-2014,  <http://vsl2014.at/meetings/CAV-index.html>
http://vsl2014.at/meetings/CAV-index.html) 

* Aims and Scope

Almost half of a century has passed since Robert W. Floyd published the
first research 

that explicitly discussed formally how to assign meaning to programs. But
recently David 

L. Parnas have called Really Rethinking "Formal Methods", to question the
assumptions 

underlying the well-known current formal software development methods to see
why they 

have not been widely adopted and what should be changed. So, things are
right where they 

started decades ago? 

Not at all, since industrial applications of Formal Methods are not the
unique measure 

of success. Another dimension where we can discuss utility of Formal Methods
could be 

better education.  A very popular (in Russia) aphorism of Mikhail Lomonosov
(the first  

Russian academician) says: "Mathematics should be learned just because it
disciplines 

and bring up the mind". We do believe that Formal Methods discipline and
bring up minds 

in Computer Science. We would not like to say that educators should not care
about 

industrial applications of Formal Methods (quite opposite, we must care!).
At the same 

time Formal Methods education helps to bridge a "cultural gap"
(E.W.Dijkstra) between 

Mathematics and Computer Science. 

The problem is how to overcome a stable allergy to Formal Methods: many
people think 

Formal Methods are too pure in theory but too poor in practice. We do
believe that the 

basic reason behind this allergy is the absence of primary, elementary
level. It is not 

wise to start teaching arithmetic from Peano axiomatic, but it is a common
sense to 

start from elementary problems about numbers of apples, pencils, etc.  

* The workshop is designed for

- enjoying the art and beauty of Formal Methods, 

- discussing experience how to make Formal Methods easy, 

- presenting application of Formal Methods to puzzles, to games, etc., 

- non-standard problem solving outside programming and Computer Science, 

- everything else about Fun and Joy of Formal Methods. 

* Invited speakers

- Nikolay Nepejvoda (Program Systems Institute, Russia), the title TBA

- TBA

* Prvious workshop FWFM-2013

One day workshop Fun With Formal Method was held Saturday, July 13, 2013, in
Saint 

Petersburg, Russia (FWFM-2013) in affiliation with the 25th International
Conference on 

Computer Aided Verification (CAV-2013). Please refer for further datails to
the page of 

FWFM-2013 at  <http://www.iis.nsk.su/fwfm2013>
http://www.iis.nsk.su/fwfm2013. Selected papers of this workshop have been 

accepted for publication in the electronic journal Informatica Didactica 

( <http://www.informatica-didactica.de/cmsmadesimple/index.php?page=home>
http://www.informatica-didactica.de/cmsmadesimple/index.php?page=home)
devoted to 

post-proceedings of FWFM-2013.

* Paper Submissions

Extended abstracts and papers on topics related to FWFM are solicited. There
is no any 

strict limit for page number or style, but it is recommended to be in range
2-4 pages 

for extended abstracts and 4-16 pages for papers. (Single column, single
interval, font 

not less than 12 for review convenience.) 

All submitted paper will be reviewed by 2 members of Program Committee (or
their sub-

reviewers) and selection of accepted papers will based on relevance, quality
and 

(partly) originality of the submitted papers. Papers already published
somewhere are 

also welcome but must make it explicit their publication status (for
including to 

proceedings). 

Please submit your extended abstracts and papers via Easychair page 

https:/www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=fwfm2014.

We plan to publish informal proceedings before the workshop and disseminate
them among 

participants at the workshop on USB-sticks. Selected papers of this workshop
will be 

published in the electronic journal Informatica Didactica (
<http://www.informatica-> http://www.informatica-

 <http://didactica.de/cmsmadesimple/index.php?page=home>
didactica.de/cmsmadesimple/index.php?page=home) devoted to post-proceedings
of FWFM-

2014.

* Important Dates

- Sunday,  May 18, 2014: extended abstract or paper submission;

- Sunday,  May 25, 2014: acceptance notification;

- Sunday, June 01, 2014: updated abstracts and papers for pre-proceedings;

- Sunday, July 13, 2014: FWFM workshop in Vienna.

* Registration Dates and Details

Please refer to the main registration page of VSL at
<http://vsl2014.at/registration/> http://vsl2014.at/registration/ for 

further details, fees and methods of payment.

* For further questions please contact 

Nikolay Shilov

( <mailto:nikolay.shilov at nu.edu.kz> nikolay.shilov at nu.edu.kz)

Associate Professor School of Science and Technology

Nazarbayev University, Astana, Kazakhstan

(while on leave from A.P. Ershov Institute of Informatics Sysyems,
Novosibirsk, Russia)

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