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+===================================================+
+======= Testing Techniques Newsletter (TTN) =======+
+======= ON-LINE EDITION =======+
+======= August 1999 =======+
+===================================================+
TESTING TECHNIQUES NEWSLETTER (TTN), Online Edition, is E-mailed monthly
to support the Software Research, Inc. (SR)/TestWorks user community and
to provide information of general use to the worldwide software quality
and testing community.
Permission to copy and/or re-distribute is granted, and secondary
circulation is encouraged by recipients of TTN-Online provided that the
entire document/file is kept intact and this complete copyright notice
appears with it in all copies. (c) Copyright 2003 by Software Research,
Inc.
========================================================================
INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
o Quality Week Europe 1999 -- Technical Program
o Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act (UCITA) Approved by
Cem Kaner
o TestWorks Corner: CAPBAK/Web, P4 & P4+ Web Performance Test
Suites, Subscription Test Services, DEC Alpha OSF/1 upgrades.
o Software Testing Video Available
o Real Life Rules, by Charles Sykes
o 1st Asia-Pacific Conference on Intelligent Ageny Technology
(IAT'99), Hong Kong, 14-17 December 1999
o Workshop on Software Emedded Systems Testing (WSEST), 8-9 November
1999.
o TTN SUBMITTAL, SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION
========================================================================
THIRD INTERNATIONAL SOFTWARE QUALITY WEEK EUROPE 1999
TECHNICAL PROGRAM
The Third International Software Quality Week Europe (QWE'99) will be
held 1-5 November 1999 in Brussels, Belgium EU. QWE'99 has become the
premier software quality conference both in terms of the breadth of
technologies covered and in terms of the quality of the event. QWE'99
continues the tradition of excellence established by the QW/QWE series
and offers two days of tutorials by real-world experts, six Keynote
Talks by world-renowned experts, over 36 regular papers on a wide range
of software quality topics, plus two "Bonus Conferences" -- Conferences
within the QWE'99 Conference -- aimed at the two hottest topics on the
table right now, "European Issues" and "The Web".
Complete information on the event is found on the QWE'99 Conference
homepage:
<http://www.soft.com/QualWeek/QWE99/index.html>
Early registration to assure a place is encouraged because space is
limited and we are anticipating a sell out event. You can register
online at:
<http://www.soft.com/QualWeek/QWE99/qwe99.register.html>
or send Email to and the QWE'99 team will follow through
quickly.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
P R E C O N F E R E N C E T U T O R I A L S
Monday, 1 November 1999, 9:00 - 12:00 -- AM Tutorials
Mr. Bart Broekman & Mr. Christiaan Hoos (IQUIP Informatica BV,
Netherlands) "How to Automate Your Tests with Lasting Benefits? (A)"
Dr. Hans-Ludwig Hausen (GMD, Germany) "Software Metrology Basis (B1)"
Mr. Hanania Salzer (RTS Engineering, Israel) "ATRs (Atomic Requirements)
Writing Workshop (C1)"
Mr. Thomas Drake (Coastal Research & Technology, USA) "Testing Software
Based Systems - People, Process & Technology (D)"
Monday, 1 November 1999, 14:00 - 17:00 -- PM Tutorials
Mr. Bart Broekman & Mr. Christiaan Hoos (IQUIP Informatica BV,
Netherlands) "How to Automate Your Tests with Lasting Benefits? (A)"
Mr. Ara Kouchakdjian & Mr. Larry Apfelbaum (Q-Labs, Inc., USA) "State
Modeling for Usage-based Testing (C2)"
Mr. Thomas Drake (Coastal Research & Technology, USA) "Testing Software
Based Systems - People, Process & Technology (D)"
Ms. Suzanne Robertson (Atlantic Systems Guild, England) "Making
Requirements Visible: A Strategy for Qualifying Requirements and
Constraints (B2)"
Tuesday, 2 November 1999, 9:00 - 12:00 -- AM Tutorials
Mr. Robert Binder (RBSC, USA) "Lessons Learned: The State of the Art in
OO Testing (E)"
Mr. Tim Koomen & Mr. Ruud Teunissen (IQUIP Informatica, Netherlands)
"Stepwise Improvement of the Test Process using TPI (F1)"
Mr. Bill Bently (mu_Research, USA) "How to Test an Object: The
Information Flow Approach (G1)"
Mr. T. Ashok (VeriFone India Ltd., India) "A Model for a High
Performance Test Organization (H1)"
Tuesday, 2 November 1999, 14:00 - 17:00 -- PM Tutorials
Mr. Robert Binder (RBSC, USA) "Lessons Learned: The State of the Art in
OO Testing (E)"
Ms. Isabella Wieczorek (Fraunhofer IESE, Germany) "Cost and Quality
Measurement in Practice: An Integrated Approach (F2)"
Dr. Gualtiero Bazzana (Onion S.p.A., Italy) "Testing of Web-Based
Applications (G2)"
Mr. Robert A. Sabourin (Purkinje Inc., Canada) "Bug Priority and
Severity (H2)"
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
T E C H N I C A L P R O G R A M
Wednesday, 3 November 1999, 8:30 - 10:00 -- KEYNOTE SESSION #1
Mr. Robert Binder (RBSC, USA) "Lessons Learned: The State of the Art in
OO Testing (K1)"
Dr. Rainer Zimmerman (European Commission, Belgium) "Lessons Learned:
European Software Technology Development (K2)"
Wednesday, 3 November 1999, 11:00 - 5:00 -- Parallel Technical Tracks
TOOLS/TECHNOLOGY TRACK...
Mr. Axel Lankenau & Mr. Oliver Meyer (Bremen Institute of Safe Systems,
Germany) "Formal Methods in Robotics: Fault Tree Based Verification
(1T)"
Mr. Roberto Delmiglio, F. Basili, E. Bendinelli, A. Manini, A. Rappelli,
& G. Rumi (Italtel SpA, Italy) "Test Automation in Telecommunications
Software: A Case Study on GPRS (2T)"
Mr. Mika Salmela, Jarmo Kalaoja & Jukka Korhonen (VTT Electronics,
Finland) "Automated Test Reuse for Product Families (3T)"
Mr. Martin Gonzalez-Rodriguez (University of Oviedo, Spain) "Automatic
Usability Testing for Hypermedia Navigational Graphs (4T)"
Mr. Richard Harmon (Pi Technology, England) "Automated Testing of COM
Software in a RAD Environment (5T)"
APPLICATION/SOLUTIONS TRACK...
Nathalie Fuchs & Mr. Steven Van Schil (GiTek Software n.v., Netherlands)
"Structured Testing, a Must in a Validation Critical Environment (1A)"
Mr. Tim Koomen & Mr. Rob Kuijt (IQUIP Informatica, Netherlands)
"Improving Developer's Tests (2A)"
Mr. Henrik Oertel (Institut fur Flugmechanik, Germany) "Developing
Embedded Software for a Helicopter Testbed (3A)"
Prof. Wolfgang A. Halang (FernUniversitaet, Faculty of Electrical
Engineering, Germany) "Engineering Safety Related Control Software in
Developing Countries (4A)"
Mr. Walter Baziuk (Nortel Networks Inc., Canada) "Developing Highly
Reliable Products in "Internet Time" (5A)"
PROCESS/MANAGEMENT TRACK...
Mr. Steve Quirke (Sanlam, South Africa) "How we Implemented a Change
Control Process in a Large Financial Services Organization (1M)"
Mr. Kishor Bapat (EWO Software, USA) "Cleanroom Management Begins with
Clean Applications (2M)"
Mr. John Elliott (Systems and Software Engineering Centre, England)
"Customer Satisfaction Through Improved Requirements Understanding (3M)"
Mr. Marcelo Dalceggio & Mr. Alvaro Ruiz de Mendarozqueta (Banco Rio de
la Plata SA, Argentina) "Automated Software Inspection Process (4M)"
Ms. Hanna Luden (Getronics Software, Netherlands) "Software Project
Evaluation as a Vehicle for Software Process Improvement (5M)"
BONUS CONFERENCE TRACK: European Issues...
Mr. Pedro Gutierrez (European Software Institute, Spain) "Roadmaps for
SPI (1B)"
Mr. Luigi Buglione & Ms. Elixabete Ostolaza (European Software
Institute, Spain) "Achieving Business Excellence in SPI: Applying the
EFQM/SPICE Integrated Model in Industry (2B)"
Mr. Pietro Moro & Mr. Antonio Cicu (OPTEC Srl, Italy) "Improving
Software Documentation: Results of the ESSI PIE DOCPROVE Project (3B)"
Mr. Andreas Rudolf & Mr. Rainer Pirker (IBM, Austria) "How to Test the
EURO Effectively (4B)"
Mr. Otto Vinter (Bruel & Kjaer Sound & Vibration Measurement A/S,
Denmark) "How to Apply for Funding From The IST Program (5B)"
Thursday, 4 November 1999, 8:30 - 10:00 -- KEYNOTE SESSION #1
Mr. Martin Pol (IQUIP Informatica, Netherlands) "Lessons Learned: Test
Process Improvement (K3)"
Mr. Harry Sneed (SES Software-Engineering Service GmbH, Germany) "New
Technology: Control Flow Animation as a Means of Class Testing (K4)"
Thursday, 4 November 1999, 11:00 - 5:00 -- Parallel Technical Tracks
TOOLS & TECHNOLOGY TRACK...
Ms. Misha Dorman (IPL Information Processing Ltd., England) "Testing
C++: Why It's Hard and How To Do It Well (6T)"
Mr. Feng Nan (IBM China Research Lab, China) "A New Tool for Measuring
Server's QoS with Multi-Workload (7T)"
Mr. Narayana Jayaram (University of Westminster, England) "Towards A
Test Process Framework for Distributed Component-based Software (8T)"
Mr. Johan Swinnen (GiTek Software n.v., Belgium) "TESPRA: A Practical
and Integrated Method for Test Control, Reporting and Estimation (9T)"
Mr. Thomas Drake (Coastal Research & Technology, USA) "Extreme Quality:
What Can We Learn From The Computer and Video Games Industry? (10T)"
APPLICATION/SOLUTIONS TRACK...
Jin-Cherng Lin (Tatung Institute of Technology, Taiwan) "An Efficient
Measurement for Assertion Placement (6A)"
Mr. Torsten Baumann, Mr. Rex Black, Mr. Serban Teodorescu, & Mr. Gordon
Page (Interactive Media, Canada) "Intgegrated Test Automation of IVR-
Telephony Applications and Client-Server Call Center Applications (7A)"
Mr. Dave Locke (Rational Software Corporation, USA) "How to Implement a
Use Case-Driven Requirements Management Process (8A)"
Mr. Peter Frohlich & Mr. Johannes Link (ABB Corporate Research, Germany)
"Modeling Dynamic Behaviour Based on Use Cases (9A)"
Mr. Mats Grindal (Enea Data AB, Sweden) "A post-mortem Analysis of a
Semi-Successful Client Server System Test Project (10A)"
PROCESS/MANAGEMENT TRACK...
Mr. Lieven Schouwaerts (Gitek Software NV, Belgium) "How to Implement
Structured Testing in Narrow Time Boxed Projects (6M)"
Mr. Rob Baarda & Mr. Tim Koomen (IQUIP Informatica BV, Netherlands)
"Risk Based Test Strategy (7M)"
Mr. K. Dinesh, Pankaj Jalote, M.R. Bhashyam, & S. Raghavan (Infosys
Technologies Ltd., India) "Managing the Transition from ISO to High
Maturity Levels of the CMM (8M)"
Mr. Tim Koomen (IQUIP Informatica, Netherlands) "Test Process
Improvement Experiences: Everything You Always Wanted To Know... (9M)"
Prof. David Powell (CMG Plc, England) "Test Management -- Solutions for
Project Improvement (10M)"
BONUS CONFERENCE TRACK: The Web...
Mr. Leo Spiegel (Sandpiper Networks, Inc., USA) "Performance 2000:
Ensuring Consistent Web Site Performance (6B)"
Dr. Edward Miller (Software Research) E-Commerce Reliability and Web
Testing (7D)
Mr. Steven Rabin (Interworld Corporation, USA) "e-Commerce Functional
Testing and Performance Benchmarking - Methodology and Criteria (8B)"
Mr. Sam Guckenheimer (Rational Software Corporation, USA) "Effective
Testing for Java-based Web Software (9B)"
Dr. Benedikt Lutz (Siemens AG Osterreich, Austria) "Writing A Software
Engineering Handbook for the Intranet (10B)"
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Friday, 5 November 1999, 9:00 - 11:00 -- Parallel Technical Tracks
TOOLS & TECHNOLOGY TRACK...
Dr. Minsheng Liu & Mr. Arthur Gorges (Huengsberg AG, Germany) "Improving
Quality in the Software Development Process on the Basis of UML (11T)"
Mr. Johannes Ryser (University of Zurich, Switzerland) "A Practical
Approach to Validating and Testing Software Systems Using Scenarios
(12T)"
APPLICATION/SOLUTIONS TRACK...
Mr. T. Ashok, Hema Gollamudi, & Piyali Biswas (VeriFone India Ltd.,
India) "A Model for Analysis of Software Testing Metrics for Process
Improvements (11A)"
Mr. Niels-Bruun Svendsen (B-K Medical A/S, Denmark) "Error Trending, Why
& How (12A)"
PROCESS/MANAGEMENT TRACK...
Mr. Jens Pas (ps_testware, Belgium) "Managing Your Test Costs (11M)"
Mr. Rob van der Pouw Kraan (QualityHouse BV, Netherlands) "Test
Outsourcing: The First Experiences (12M)"
BONUS CONFERENCE TRACK: The Web...
Dr. Hans-Ludwig Hausen (GMD, Germany) "Seven Views to Website Quality
Modeling and Assessment (11B)"
Mr. Elie Kanaan (Mercury Interactive, Israel) "E-Commerce: Where
Application Testing means Staying in Business (12B)"
Friday, 4 November 1999, 11:00 - 12:00 -- KEYNOTE SESSION #3
Mr. Nick Borelli (Microsoft, USA) "Seizing Control of the Development
Lifecycle - (QW'99 Best Paper) (K5)"
Mr. Otto Vinter (Bruel & Kjaer Sound & Vibration Measurement A/S,
Denmark) "Lessons Learned: Experienced-Based Approaches to Process
Improvement (K6)"
EXTRA PAPERS/PRESENTATIONS
Mr. Mark Paap (IQUIP Informatica BV, Netherlands) "Test Tool Selection:
Best Practices"
Mr. Narayana Jayaram (University of Westminster, England) "Addressing
Quality of Service Issues in E-Commerce Environment"
o o o o o o o
There will be a special awards presentation which will announce:
o QWE'99 Best Paper Award -- the technical paper judged by the
Advisory Board to have made the most important contribution to the
goal of general improvement of Software Quality.
o QWE'99 Best Presentation Award -- the overall best presentation,
as voted by QWE'99 attendees throughout the event, with any ties
broken by the Advisory Board.
Both the Best Paper Award presenter and the Best Presentation Award
presenter will be invited to attend QW'2000 (May 2000, San Francisco Bay
Area).
Complete QWE'99 details are available at the conference WebSite:
<http://www.soft.com/QualWeek/QWE99/index.html>
Questions or requests can go to .
========================================================================
Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act (UCITA) Approved
by
Cem Kaner, J.D., Ph.D.
P.O. Box 1200,
Santa Clara, CA 95052 USA
<http://www.kaner.com>
<http://www.badsoftware.com>
The National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws approved
the Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act (UCITA) on Thursday,
after what was often called the most divided debate in the history of
the Conference.
To provide context, I'll note for those who are new to the list that
UCITA is a new law that will govern all software-related (and many
other) contracts. It will be the primary law of software quality. It
also rewrites intellectual property (patent, copyright) rules for the
mass market. This group (sw-test-discuss) wrote a letter of opposition
to the bill earlier in the year. Additionally, several of you
(especially Phil Koopman) helped me work through the issues involved in
legally defining the difference between embedded and non-embedded
software (UCITA was intended to cover non-embedded software only. And
many of you reviewed draft after draft of discussions of the definition
of "defect".
Here are the results, relative to our work:
(1) The authors of the bill chose to not define defect. However, user
interface errors of any kind are not the same kind of errors as
errors in the interface of the product with devices or errors in
execution of the running program. The UI errors are treated under
the law as equivalent to an error in content of a newspaper
article. The other errors are, maybe, defects that can trigger a
breach of warranty.
(2) The sections on scope (what does this bill cover?) were revised at
one point in a way that seemed to work. That was about 7 versions
ago. It went away about 6 versions ago. The latest draft was done
in the middle of the night during the conference (after large
numbers of lawyers complained that they couldn't understand or
agree on the meaning of the second latest). I don't understand the
latest draft. I think it covers most embedded software, but
colleagues who I respect disagree with me (other colleagues that I
respect agree with me). Judges will flip coins and (in scope and
in many other impenetrable or ambiguous sections of the bill) we
then will learn what the statute means.
(Not surprisingly for a software law, it was coded first, then
we'll settle on the requirements definition later. In fact, one of
the primary stated motivations for shipping this thing this year
was that the competition -- Congress (federal law, rather than
state law) -- might draft and release its own product if we hold
up the release for too long. And the Chair of the Drafting
Committee promised to track the bill's difficulties in the states,
and to come back with revisions (UCITA 1.01) next year.)
(3) Our opposition (the opposition of the software engineering
community in general) was noted and was influential for several
people. It was well founded. When we wrote our opposition, UCITA
was a joint project of the American Law Instititute and the
NCCUSL. Recently, ALI (3000 professors, judges, heads of major law
firms) called for fundamental revisions to make the bill more
friendly to customers and to cut out some barriers to competitive
development and marketing. When those revisions weren't
forthcoming, they withdrew their support. Additionally, over the
past month, the Federal Trade Commission analyzed the bill and
raised concerns about consumer protection and competition. Then 25
Attorneys General (25 states) co-signed a letter identifying ways
in which consumers were losing rights, pointing out that UCITA
authorizes a style of practice that they consider unlawful and
that they prosecute today. They called on NCCUSL to describe the
bill accurately to the public and to table the bill. Many other
groups came out in opposition too, but it's particularly rewarding
(to me) to see law enforcement organizations who normally stay
neutral in these types of debates doing their own careful analyses
and coming up with many of the same objections that we have
raised.
UCITA will go to the state legislatures soon. Input from software
professional societies and groups like sw-test-discuss will be
influential in several states. So, I might beg you for another letter of
opposition later this year.
I haven't decided what role to play in the state fights. They will often
be dirter and more expensive. I am hoping that my role will be minor. I
really want to finish a book that Marick and Bach and I have been
writing (Good Enough Testing), and to make faster progress on the third
edition of Testing Computer Software (expect it sometime in 2001 or
2002) and to setting up more groups to run their own variations of the
Los Altos Workshops on Software Testing. I'm hoping that some of The Big
Kids (American Trial Lawyers Association, for example) will step in and
stomp the bill in state legislatures without costing more of my time.
We'll have to see what happens.
For more detail, see: <http://www.badsoftware.com/whatsnew.htm>
========================================================================
TestWorks Corner: New Items for TestWorks Users
TestWorks products support client/server, embedded system, and website
testing and quality assurance activities. Here are items that will be
of interest to current and prospective TestWorks users.
o There is a new White Paper, "WebSite Testing", by Edward Miller, that
you may want to read. It outlines basic requirements of WebSite
testing and gives a brief summary of how CAPBAK/Web and SMARTS can be
used to meet most of the requirements for deep WebSite testing. You
can find the White Paper at:
<http://www.soft.com/Products/Web/Technology/website.testing.html>
A shorter version of this paper -- with some changes and
modifications -- was recently published in DACS "Software TechNews"
newsletter at:
<http://www.dacs.dtic.mil/awareness/newsletters/stn3-
2/website.testing.html>
Comments on these papers can be sent directly to Dr. Miller at
o We are offering potential CAPBAK/Web customers a free "2-Deep
TestSuite" for a specified URL to help them get started. The 2-deep
suite gives you a SMARTS "ats file" and a set of CAPBAK/Web "keysave
files" that fully exercise two layers of your WebSite. Make your
request at:
<http://www.soft.com/Products/Web/CAPBAK/2deep.request.html>
o We have published two examples of how CAPBAK/Web can be applied to
web site performance tuning. One of these examples is an
illustration of a 2-deep testsuite, as discussed above. The two
examples are the Public Portal Performance Profile (PPPP = P4), and
the extended version PPPP Plus (P4+).
Both P4 and P4+ measure the performance of 20 key website portals.
P4 measures response times for just the top-page of the site; P4+
measures the overall response time for each top-page and ALL of the
2-nd level pages. P4 is a 1-deep testsuite; P4+ is a 2-deep
testsuite.
We have been accumulating data on the relative performance of this
group of sites over the past few months; beginning in August we are
updating the information weekly. You can see these results at:
<http://www.soft.com/Products/Web/CAPBAK/pppp/pppp.html>
and
<http://www.soft.com/Products/Web/CAPBAK/pppp/pppp.plus.html>
o We have generated wide interest in our application of CAPBAK/Web
technology to scheduled test service packages, which we are
introducing under the eValid(tm) brand name. If you are a website
manager and wish to have complete assurance about the quality,
content, response time, and operational status of your website you
may want to subscribe to eValid services. A summary (and links to
individual services) is available at:
<http://www.soft.com/Products/Web/eValid/evalid.summary.html>
We invite inquires from dealers and resellers and website testing
gurus who may be interested in having these very powerful test
services supplied to their customers. Send all requests to
.
o The latest builds of our new CAPBAK/Web capture replay system are now
available for evaluation. You can do the download from:
<http://www.soft.com/Products/Downloads>.
Complete information about CAPBAK/Web is found at:
<http://www.soft.com/Products/Web/CAPBAK/capbakweb.html>.
There is an introductory "Frequently Asked Questions" about
CAPBAK/Web and WebSite testing at:
<http://www.soft.com/Products/Web/CAPBAK/faq.html>.
o There are new builds of all TestWorks products for the DEC Alpha OSF1
Environment now available for downloading. These builds recapture a
range of changes to TestWorks over the past several months, and fix
several environment-specific problems. If you currently are using
TestWorks on the DEC Alpha OSF1 environment your current access keys
should work without difficulty. Downloading details are at:
<http://www.soft.com/Products/Downloads/down.alpha.html>
o If you would like to be added to the regular TestWorks Software
Installation List (SIL) mailing please make the request to
. This monthly mailing has a wealth of current
pointers and other details about the TestWorks solution. Be sure to
include your complete title, organizational details, and phone/FAX
number information.
Complete information about TestWorks can be obtained by Emailing
.
========================================================================
Software Testing Video Available
A new software testing video IEEE Reliability Society and IEEE
Educational Activities is now available.
Title: "Software Testing: Building Infrastructure, Due Diligence, and OO
Software"
Presentors: Cem Kaner, Law Office of Cem Kaner; J. Payne, President and
CEO of Reliable Software Technologies; and Barry Preppernau, Test
Training Manager, Microsoft.
Here are the main points and topics:
+ The differences between testing Java and another OO-
languages such as C++.
+ The minimal testing required to avoid punitive damages in
court.
+ What court cases have defined "good enough testing" to date.
+ How Microsoft continually refines its testing processes.
+ How Microsoft has built their internal testing groups
+ Why Microsoft doesn't mandate different testing strategies,
rather, all different groups within Microsoft select
whatever type of testing they wish to employ.
For more information, contact and request
information or go the the IEEE website:
<http://www.ieee.org/organizations/eab/vdinterdis8.htm>
========================================================================
Real Life Rules
by
Charles Sykes
Charles Sykes is the author of DUMBING DOWN OUR KIDS. He wrote for high
school and college graduates a list of eleven things they did not learn
in school. In his book, he talks about how the feel good, politically-
correct teachings created a generation of kids with no concept of
reality and set them up for failure in the real world.
You may want to share this list with them.
Rule 1: Life is not fair; get used to it.
Rule 2: The world does not care about your self-esteem. The world
expects you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.
Rule 3: You will NOT make 40 thousand dollars a year right out of high
school. You will not be a vice president with a car phone until you earn
both.
Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.
She does not have tenure.
Rule 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents
had a different word for burger flipping; they called it opportunity.
Rule 6: If you mess up, it is not your parents' fault, so do not whine
about your mistakes. Learn from them.
Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents were not as boring as they
are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your
clothes, and listening to you talk about how cool you are. So before you
save the rainforest from the parasites of your parents' generation, try
delousing the closet in your own room.
Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers but life
has not. In some schools they have abolished failing grades; they give
you as many times as you want to get the right answer. This, of course,
does not bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.
Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You do not get summers off,
and very few employers are interested in helping you find yourself. Do
that on your own time.
Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have
to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.
Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.
========================================================================
First Asia-Pacific Conference on Intelligent Agent Technology (IAT'99)
Hong Kong
14-17 December 1999
WORKSHOP ON AGENTS IN E-COMMERCE
<http://www.comp.hkbu.edu.hk/IAT99/>
Organized by
IBM T.J. Watson Research Center
Hong Kong Baptist University
C A L L F O R P A P E R S
INTRODUCTION
The pervasive connectivity of the Internet and the powerful architecture
of WWW are changing many market conventions and creating a tremendous
opportunity for conducting business on Internet. Intelligent agents will
play a crucial role in electronic commerce where dynamic and
heterogeneous interactions between tens of thousands of organizations
and tens of millions of individuals are involved. So far, we have
already witnessed the involvement of e-commerce agents in traditional
business settings. For example, shopping agents are now available at
Excite and Yahoo.
Furthermore, the involvements of agents in e-commerce are re-shaping the
ways business is conducted in areas such as pricing, negotiation,
auction, and brokerages, to name a few. The automation brought by e-
commerce agents dramatically reduces certain types of frictional costs
and time incurred in trading.
The purpose of this workshop is to bring researchers and practitioners
to identify and explore the issues, opportunities, and solutions for e-
commerce agents. It will provide a forum for free exchange of ideas and
will be featured by invited talks and refereed paper presentations.
Authors are invited to submit regular papers, reports on work in
progress, and position papers. Topics for submission include but are
not limited to:
- Architectures, environments and languages for e-commerce agents
- Action planning for e-commerce agents
- Adaptation and learning for e-commerce agents
- Human and agent interaction in e-commerce
- Interface agents in e-commerce
- The dynamic and global behavior of e-commerce agents
- Mobile e-commerce agents
- Performance measurement of e-commerce agents
- Rational information agents and electronic commerce
- Virtual agent-based marketplaces
- E-commerce agents in uncertain environment
- The personalization and privacy issues for e-commerce agents
- Real-time scheduling protocols for e-commerce agents
- Web data mining for e-commerce agents
- Integration of e-commerce agents with legacy systems
- Auction and negotiation for e-commerce agents
- Automated shopping and trading agents
- Agent-oriented middleware services
- Computational markets for e-commerce agent services
- Cryptographic techniques for e-commerce agents
- Languages for describing goods, services, and contracts for
e-commerce agents
- Payment and exchange protocols
- Visualization of e-commerce agent activities
- Social implications for agent oriented e-commerce
- Credit authentication, access control for e-commerce agents
- Conceptual modeling and design of Ontologies for e-commerce agents
- Agent-based brokering and trade-mediating services
- Virtual trading institutions
- Role of trust
INVITED TALKS
Anthony Hall
Director, NORTEL NETWORKS
Wlodek Zadrozny
Manager, IBM T.J. Watson Research Center
ORGANIZERS
Chair: Yiming Ye, IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, USA
IMPORTANT DATES
Four (4) copies of full paper due by: October 5, 1999
Notification of paper acceptance: November 1, 1999
Camera ready version due by: November 15, 1999
Workshop: December 14, 1999
PROGRAM COMMITTEE: Takeshi Furuhashi, Nagoya University, Japan: Pinar
Keskinocak, IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, USA; Alexandros Moukas, MIT
Media Lab, USA; John Muller, IBM Santa Teresa Laboratory, USA; Eric Yu,
University of Toronto, Canada;
CONTACT: Dr. Yiming Ye
========================================================================
Workshop on Software-Embedded Systems Testing (WSEST)
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Gaithersburg, MD,
8-9 November 1999
C A L L F O R A B S T R A C T S
For further information, contact Jerry Stenbakken, Workshop Chairman, or
visit the WSEST web site at:
<http://www.eeel.nist.gov/wsest>
The workshop will focus on the problems of testing mixed-signal systems
with embedded-software. The systems considered include individual IC
devices to complete instruments. The scope will include, but is not
limited to problems associated with:
Adaptive Systems
Automatic Test Generation
Black Box and Glass Box Views
Built-in-Test Support
Controlling Test Complexity Growth
Detecting Design Defects
Detecting Manufacturing Defects
Fault Tolerance Verification
Maintaining Accurate Models
Modular Redundancy
Reconfigurable Devices
Software Constraints for Testability
Software Validation
System Reliability
Test-Space Searching Techniques
Prospective authors should submit an extended abstract (in English only)
1 to 2 pages in length. The submission should include author name(s),
affiliation(s), address(es), phone number(s), fax number(s), email
address(es), and the contact author. Abstracts should be submitted no
later than September 1, 1999, to:
Jerry Stenbakken, WSEST Chairman
NIST, 100 Bureau Drive, Stop 8111
Gaithersburg, MD 20899-8111 USA
Phone: (301) 975-2440,
FAX: (301) 926-3972
E-mail: wsest@eeel.nist.gov
Important dates:
September 1, 1999 - Abstract submission deadline.
September 15, 1999 - Author notification of acceptance.
October 15, 1999 - Final manuscript due date.
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