Tech Icons: Bjarne Stroustrup

Meet Bjarne Stroustrup, inventor of C++, and Hero of the Digital Revolution is the title of a March 2011 video released by Tech Icons, an AT&T Tech Channel show. Tech Icons focuses on the Heroes of the Digital Revolution in a series of fascinating biographies. The focal point of this video is Dr. Stroustrup, his creation of C++ and it's worldwide and interplanetary applications.



This audiovisual program highlights Dr. Stroustrup's journey from AT&T Bell Labs to Texas A&M University, emphasizing the history of C++ design and it's revolutionary affect on today's technology. C++0x* is also referenced as Dr. Stroustrup continues to improve C++ for future technologies. He says in the video, "C++...is my vehicle to get to interesting places and see interesting people." We are privileged that he has chosen Texas A&M as an interesting place on his incredible journey.

Dr. Bjarne Stroustrup is the Distinguished Professor and College of Engineering Endowed Chair in Computer Science in Texas A&M Engineering's Department of Computer Science and Engineering.

Written by Kathy Flores

An Automatic Parallelization Framework for Algebraic Computation Systems

A paper "An Automatic Parallelization Framework for Algebraic Computation Systems" by Yue Li and Gabriel Dos Reis was accepted by ISSAC 2011

Abstract:
This paper proposes an automatic parallelization framework for an existing computer algebra system. The framework performs a semantics-based static analysis to extract reductions in library components. Reductions using associative binary operators are automatically transformed to their parallel versions. Our implementation is evaluated using algebraic library functions and a self-implemented application. Experimental results show that up to 5 times speed-up for the application is obtained. It is feasible to adapt the core of this framework to other algebraic computation systems and programming languages. The adaptation requires a type system which is able to provide semantics algebraic information from users.

Extending Type Systems in a Library

Type-safe XML processing in C++
by Yuriy Solodkyy and Jaakko Järvi

Abstract

Type systems built directly into the compiler or interpreter of a programming language cannot be easily extended to keep track of run-time invariants of new abstractions. Yet, programming with domain-specific abstractions could benefit from additional static checking. This paper presents library techniques for extending the type system of C++ to support domain-specific abstractions. The main contribution is a programmable “subtype” relation. As a demonstration of the techniques, we implement a type system for defining type qualifiers in C++, as well as a type system for the XML processing language, capable of, e.g., statically guaranteeing that a program only produces valid XML documents according to a given XML schema.

Research highlights

• Metaprogramming capabilities of C++ enable domain-specific type system extensions.
  
• A template library for building new type system extensions.
  
• Type system extensions for type qualifiers.
  
• Type system extensions for regular expression types for typing XML.

Keywords: Type systems; XML; Type qualifiers; C++; Template metaprogramming; Active libraries

• Published in: Science of Computer Programming
  
• Project's Webpage: XTL
  

25th Anniversary of C++

This Thursday will mark the 25th anniversary of the commercial release of the programming language C++, which was designed and implemented by our very own Distinguished Professor and College of Engineering Chair in Computer Science Dr. Bjarne Stroustrup. C++ is one of the most popular programming languages in the world. The first commercial release of the language and the publication of the first edition of the book entitled "The C++ Programming Language" happened on October 14, 1985.

Literature Search for Computer Science

Interesting talk by Todd Veldhuizen that was presented by Dr. Jaakko Jarvi during our PTTL Reading Group gathering last Friday.

Literature Search for Computer Science

by Todd Veldhuizen

Abstract

Why read the literature?

• Because sometimes "a year of hard work can save a week of reading".
  
• Increase the likelihood that someone will care about your research:
  • Not duplicate an already known result.
    
  • Identify communities of people who will appreciate what you are doing.
    
• Be able to give a convincing treatment of your research problem:
  • Using standard terminology and notations;
    
  • Comparing your contribution to related work;
    
  • Avoiding obvious ‘newbie ’ mistakes
    
  • Not getting crushed by some crusty professor who claims to have published your result twenty years ago.
    

Dr. Stroustrup named Distinguished Professor

by Tony Okonski

Dr. Bjarne Stroustrup has earned promotion to the academic rank of Distinguished Professor in recognition of his contributions to computer science and software development at Texas A&M University. The promotion will take effect on September 1, 2010.

Dr. Stroustrup's research interests include distributed systems, simulation, design, programming techniques, software development tools, and programming languages. Stroustrup is the College of Engineering Chair in Computer Science at Texas A&M University.

He is the author of three editions of the definitive book on C++, The C++ Programming Language, The Design and Evolution of C++ (1994), The Annotated C++ Reference Manual (1989), and a textbook for freshmen and beginning programmers, Programming Principles and Practice Using C++ (2009). These books have been translated in numerous languages.

C++ is one of the most widely used programming languages. It is used for everyday applications such as internet browsers and cell phones as well as scientific applications, such as NASA's Mars Rovers and the human genome project. Its key strength is in infrastructure applications, such as wind turbine control, micro-electronics industrial tools, and Google.

Stroustrup is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, an IEEE Fellow, an AT&T Fellow, and an ACM Fellow. He is actively involved in the ANSI/ISO standardization of C++.

In 1993 he received the ACM Grace Murray Hopper award "for his early work laying the foundations for the C++ programming language. Based on those foundations and Dr. Stroustrup's continuing efforts, C++ has become one of the most influential programming languages in the history of computing." In 2008, Stroustrup received the Dr. Dobb's Excellence in Programming award for "advancing the craft of computer programming."

Stroustrup is also a recipient of the 2009 Association of Former Students at Texas A&M University Distinguished Achievement Award in the Category of Research at both the College of Engineering and University levels. His elevation to Distinguished Professor is a very noteworthy achievement as it signifies the excellence and quality of Dr. Stroustrup's teaching and research in programming languages.

What Should We Teach New Software Developers? Why?

Dr. Bjarne Stroustrup, Professor and College of Engineering Chair in Computer Science at Texas A&M University, recently wrote an article for Communications of the ACM where he speaks about the fundamental changes to computer science education that are required to better address the needs of industry. The article in its entirety can be found here.

Bjarne Stroustrup Expounds on Concepts and the Future of C++

In his recent article on DevX, Danny Kalev asks Bjarne the hard questions about concepts and C++'s future.

A year ago, everyone was all but certain that the C++0x standard was just around the corner, and that it would include concepts (see Danny Kalev's earlier interview with Bjarne Stroustrup, the creator of C++, from August 2008). However, In July 2009 the C++ standards committee decided to remove concepts from the C++0x by an unprecedented move. Danny's recent controversial editorial was among the first to report that decision and its possible consequences. Despite vociferous disagreements over the removal of concepts themselves, nearly everyone agrees that the committee's decision left open many questions not only about concepts, but also about the committee's charter, and even the future of C++ itself.

Therefore, Danny has interviewed Bjarne Stroustrup again, this time to capture his thoughts about concepts, their removal, and the impact of that decision, along with his take on other pressing questions that currently concern the entire C++ community.

Source: DevX: Bjarne Stroustrup Expounds on Concepts and the Future of C++

Book Signing and Reception for Dr. Bjarne Stroustrup

by Tony Okonski

Please join us for a book signing and reception honoring Dr. Bjarne Stroustrup on the release of his new book, Programming Principles and Practice Using C++. The reception will be held from 3-5pm on Friday, February 20, 2009 at the J. Wayne Stark Galleries on the campus of Texas A&M University.

Programming Principles and Practice Using C++ was written for those who have never programmed, and it has been tested with more than 1,000 first-year students at Texas A&M University. It is the current textbook for the ENGR 112, Foundations of Engineering 2, and CPSC 113 Intermediate Programming and Design courses; however, practitioners and advanced students will gain new insight and guidance by seeing how a recognized master approaches the elements of his art.

This book was written primarily to teach the fundamentals, concepts, and techniques of programming in greater depth as compared to traditional introductions. This approach creates a solid foundation for writing useful, correct, maintainable, and efficient code. The book also serves as a general introduction to programming, covering both object-oriented programming and generic programming. It is a solid introduction to the C++ programming language, one of the most widely used languages for real-world software. The book presents modern C++ programming techniques from the start, introducing the C++ standard library to simplify programming tasks.

The book covers a wide range of essential concepts, from design and programming techniques, language features, and libraries, including input, output, computation, and simple graphics, to more specialized topics, such as text processing and testing, and provides abundant reference material. Source code and support supplements are available from the author's website. Some comments from readers:

"A remarkable balance of accessibility and accuracy."

"Up until now, I looked in vain for one that combines a good explanation of programming principles with a good explanation of C++."

"The sheer joy that shines throughout the pages. It's clear that Bjarne Stroustrup is still jazzed about programming after all this time."


Dr. Bjarne Stroustrup is the designer and original implementer of C++ and the author of The C++ Programming Language. He is the College of Engineering Chair in Computer Science and Professor at Texas A&M University, a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering, and an AT&T Fellow. He is a founding member of the ISO C++ standards committee.

Source: Department of Computer Science at Texas A&M University

Bjarne Stroustrup on Educating Software Developers

In this interview Dr. Stroustrup speaks about the challenges and problems – and improvements being made – in computer science programs. Among issues like perceptions of offshoring and the need to balance the theoretical with the practical, he addresses complaints by tech companies about the lack of fully qualified CS graduates.

Source: Datamation