What is programming

Dr Richard P. Gabriel and Dr Guy Steele will present "50 in 50: 50 Programming Languages in 50 Years", at the Australian National University in Canberra, 9 December 2010. To register for pre-lecture drinks (commencing 5.15pm). Please respond by Tue 7 December:

ANU College of Engineering & Computer Science and the Australian Computer Society (ACS) present:

ANU Public Lecture Series 2010

50 in 50: 50 Programming Languages in 50 Years

Dr Richard P. Gabriel and Dr Guy Steele

Thursday 9 December 2010, 6-7pm

Haydon-Allen Lecture theatre (the tank) building 23, University Avenue, ANU

This lecture is free and open to the public.

Enquiries t: 6125 6601
E: Heather.mcEwen@anu.edu.au

People keep inventing new programming languages. What is programming, and how can the design of a programming language help or hinder that process? We have learned a lot over the last five decades: principles, conventions, theory, fashions, and fads. As George Santayna stated, “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

In this multimedia presentation, the presenters survey numerous design features and important lessons from the past that future programmers - and future programming language designers - ought not to forget. They illustrate each lesson by discussing specific programming languages of the past, and endeavour to shine what light we can on the future.

Dr Guy Steele is a software architect who researches programming languages at Sun Labs, Oracle. He is the co-author of several books on programming languages, including The Hacker’s Dictionary, and Common Lisp the Language. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery.

Dr Richard Gabriel is a distinguished engineer working on programming language and software engineering at IBM Research. He is the author of five books on various topics including Lisp benchmarking, software and patterns, creative writing, a poetry collection and software development.

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visit www.anu.edu.au/publiclectures

The views expressed in this lecture are those of the presenter and do not necessarily represent the views of The Australian National University. Printed on recycled paper. CRICOS# 00120C MO_10363