Spring workshop III: What is a computer program? Final conference

We are happy to announce that the next public PROGRAMme workshop will be held from 14-15 june 2022, Lille, MESHS, Espace Baiotti.

The workshop is co-located with the fifth international conference on the History and Philosophy of Programming, HAPOP-5.

The two events will be organized in a hybrid format.

Organisors: Liesbeth De Mol, Nick Wiggershaus, Tomas Petrciek

WHAT IS A COMPUTER PROGRAM?

This seemingly simple question has no simple answer today, but the responses one gives to it affect very real problems: who is responsible if a given piece of software fails; whether a program is correct or not; or whether copyright or patent law applies to programs. The project is anchored in the conviction that a new kind of foundational research is needed. The broad range of scientific and societal problems related to computing cannot be addressed by any single discipline.

The question “What is a program?”, is a call for deeper critical thinking about the nature of programs that is both foundational, in the sense that it goes beyond specific problems, but also accessible, in the sense that it should be open to anyone who is willing to make an effort in understanding this basic technique from a broader horizon.

In this PROGRAMme workshop members will be presenting their different chapters planned for two books.

REGISTRATION

There is a joined registration for HAPOP-5 and the PROGRAMme workshopRegistration is free but mandatory. Participants can also register for diner which is not covered by general registration.

Registration closes on June 1

PROGRAM

14 june 2022:
Note: the chapters presented on this day are chapters of a planned monograph with PROGRAMme as an author. By consequence, while each chapter has only one presenter, it involves the work of many others.

9h-10h: What is a computer program? An anti-disciplinary view
presented by Liesbeth De Mol
respondent: Warren Sack

10h-11h: Classifying programs
presented by Baptiste Mélès
respondent. Gilles Dowek

11h-11h30: BREAK

11h30-12h30: Logic – a declaration of independence?
presented by Giuseppe Primiero
Respondent: Luc Pellisier

12h30-14h: LUNCH

14h-15h: Notations. There is no escape
presented by Tomas Petricek
respondent: Arnaud Bailly

15h-16h: Machines – Hide and seek
presented by Maarten Bullynck
Respondent: Arianna Borrelli

16h-16h30: BREAK

16h30-17h30: Systems – the system if dead! Long live the system.
presented by: TBA
Respondent: Lennart Melzer

20h00: Diner at Aux Moules

15 June 2022:
Note: the chapters presented on this day are chapters of a planned edited volume with PROGRAMme as an editor.

8h50: Introduction

9h00-11h10: Ideals of programs

Introduction to the topic

“The Meaning(s) of Program(s)”
Presented by Troy Astarte
Respondent: John Tucker


Sizing Programs: A Progression of Ever-Larger Programs
Presented by Selmer Bringsjord
Respondent: Tomas Petricek

Abstract programs – postponing concrete knowledge
Presented by Alberto Naibo and Julian Rohrhuber,
Respondent: Tzuchien Tho

Transcendent Programs: Is There a Universal Programming Paradigm?
presented by Selmer Bringsjord
Respondent: Mate Szabo

10h10-11h40: BREAK

11h40-12h50: Controlling programs
Introduction to the topic

Literate programming and containerization – Bringing about the real computer revolution
Martin Carlé (Ionian University – Corfu)
respondent: David Schmudde

Free programs – Liberating software and its production
presented by Bastien Guerry
respondent: Martin Carlé

12h50-14h00: LUNCH

14h-15h40: Programs in time and space
Introduction to the topic

Program time – Relating temporalities of programs and their environments
Presented by Maarten Bullynck
Respondent: Anthony Moore

Cultural entities – Preserving and curating programs in museums and archives
Presented by Elisabetta. Mori
Respondent: Thomas Haigh

Causality arguments
presented by Edgar Daylight
Respondent: Felice Cardone

15h40-16h10: BREAK

16h10-17h40: Knowing programs
Introduction to the topic

Computational theories – Representing the world through programs
presented by Nicola Angius
Respondent: Ray Turner

Undetermined programs – Crossing between determinism and non-determinism
presented by Felice Cardone
Respondent: Edgar Daylight

The How and the What: An Ecumenical Dialogue
presented by Ray Turner
Respondent: Mael Pégny

20h00: Diner at Assiette du Marché