As software increases in size and becomes more complex and costly, the need for techniques to ease software development is likewise increasing. Over the last decade, pattern community has evolved and received more interest in both academia and industry. Developing software using patterns holds the promise to reduce the cost and condensing the time of developing software systems, while simultaneously maintaining the quality of these systems.

However, the potential of using patterns in developing systems is not fully realized and we need to address many challenges. For example, developing pattern repositories and catalogs, from which patterns can be retrieved and reused, still forms a challenge to software engineering, knowledge engineering and information systems communities. In addition, the need for (semi-) automated approaches for patterns mining and integration poses several open research questions to the software engineering community.  Many think these challenges and others preclude the realization of the benefit of patterns as a reuse approach.  This workshop aims at bringing together researchers and practitioners who are interested in resolving research challenges or who have practical experience with the different issues of patterns reuse and integration to discuss and advance the state-of-the-art and the state-of-the-practice in patterns reuse.

Patterns have emerged as a promising reuse technique for both improving the quality and reducing the cost and time of software development. However, there is an immense belief that patterns have not fulfilled the expectations software developers wanted. Nevertheless, this belief does not rebuff the fact that patterns, as a concept, have the potential to play a key role in developing systems in the near future.  This near future will never come unless there are serious attempts from both developers and researchers to investigate and provide creative solutions to current challenges that hinder utilizing patterns in practice. Among these challenges, this workshop focuses on investigating how to develop systems using patterns. We are sure that this topic will attract many developers and researchers in the field to participate in this workshop.

The workshop will address software patterns challenges and debate several issues related to the following questions.  We want researchers, framework developers, and application developers to discuss and debate the following questions related to:

I.                   Pattern Creation and Development

a.       Leaving experience claim on the side, can you show how to create and develop patterns?

b.       What are the bases of creating patterns?

c.       Are there guidelines, methodologies, and/or processes for pattern creations and developments?

d.       Would you show an example or two?

II.                Patterns Selection Process:

a.       How does one select analysis and design patterns to build any system?

b.       What is the basis for selecting these patterns?

c.       If someone would like to build a system from patterns, how does she select patterns?

d.      What kind of patterns should one select to build a system from patterns?

e.       Is there a guideline for the selection process?

III.             Patterns Composition

a.       How does one integrate the selected patterns to build any system? or How does one compose any system from patterns?

b.       What are the various claims related to patterns composition? Are they true?

c.       Are there guidelines or techniques for patterns composition? Would you illustrate how to use them?

IV.              System of Patterns and General Reuse

a.       What do we mean when we say “systems of patterns”?

b.       Are the various claims related to building any system from patterns reasonable?

c.       How to develop pattern repositories and catalogs, from which patterns can be retrieved and reused?

d.       Are there automated approaches for patterns mining and integration?

e.       What other concepts will help build any system from patterns?

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V.                 Impacts

a.       What is the impact of software stability on the above issues?

Check any of the following websites for all columns and accepted position papers:

http://conferences.computer.org/compsac/2007/workshops/SPAC (Main Link)

www.engr.sjsu.edu/~fayad//workshops/COMPSAC07 (Workshop Link 2)

www.vrlsoft.com/workshops/SPAC07 (Workshop Link 3 -- Under Construction)

Detailed instructions for electronic paper submission and review process can be found at http://www.compsac.org/. People interested in participating in the workshop are requested to submit a short position paper (3-5 pages) or regular workshop paper (limited to 6 pages, double spaced, including figures) representing views and experiences relevant to the discussion topic. The title page should include a maximum 150-word abstract, five keywords, full mailing address, e-mail address, phone number, fax number, and a designated contact author. Papers will be selected depending on the originality, quality and relevance to the workshop.  All submitted papers will be evaluated according to its originality, significance, correctness, presentation and relevance. Papers should be submitted electronically at:

 http://compsac.cs.iastate.edu/2007/SPAC/. Please follow the instructions given by the web page. Camera Ready manuscripts must be submitted following IEEE conference proceedings style and guidelines. We encourage authors to present novel ideas, critique of existing work, and practical studies.

Each accepted paper must be presented in person by the author or one of the authors.  To foster lively discussions, each author is encouraged to present open questions and one or two main statements that will be discussed at the workshop.  Submissions must be either MS-Word or RTF formats (please, DO NOT compress files).

Depending on the number and spread of contributions, the scope may be narrowed to ensure effective communication and information sharing. Accepted position papers will be distributed to the participants before the workshop and made generally available through the WWW and FTP.   Accepted papers will be published in the Workshop Proceedings of the 31st IEEE Computer Software and Applications Conference (COMPSAC 2007). At least one of the authors of each accepted paper must register as a full participant in the workshop to have the paper published in the COMPSAC 2007 Proceedings. The workshop selected best papers will be published in online Journal of International Journal Of Patterns (IJOP).

Interested in participating in the workshop without submission are requested to fill out the participation form and e-mail to the co-chairs Haitham Hamza <hshamza@gmail.com>, Eduardo Segura <esegura@vrlsoft.com>, or to the workshop chair M.E. Fayad <m.fayad@sjsu.edu>. 

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PARTICIPATION FORM:

Name and Affiliation:

Position: 

Address:

E-mail:

URL:

Areas of interest:

Why would you like to participate?

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Please note that registration is required in order to participate in the workshop.  An early registration discount is available.  An overhead projector and a flipchart will be available.   

For more information please visit any of the following websites:

http://conferences.computer.org/compsac/2007/workshops/SPAC (Main Link)

www.engr.sjsu.edu/~fayad//workshops/COMPSAC07 (Workshop Link 2)

www.vrlsoft.com/workshops/SPAC07 (Workshop Link 3 -- Under Construction)

You may also contact the organizers.

1. Welcome and introduction of participants. The organizers will first give a short overview of any open issues and of the main arguments arising out of the position papers. (Estimated time: 20-30 minutes)

2. Selected authors (representing the main trends) will be given  20 minutes to explain how their position relates to other positions and what each sees as the three major issues. We expect about 5-10 position papers.  (Estimated time: 120-130 minutes)

3. The organizers will propose an identification of the major issues, and the participants will then discuss and select what they think are the hottest issues to be examined. (Estimated time: 10-15 minutes)

4. The participants will work for 70-95 minutes in small groups, with a designated moderator in each group. The groups will each deal with two different hot issues identified and will produce a summary in the form of points and counterpoints, showing either how several views are irreducibly opposed or how they are complementary.

The number of groups will depend on the number of participants and number of issues selected; ideally there should be 3-5 p people in each group. (Estimated time: 60-70 minutes)

5. Each group will be given 10-15 minutes to present its findings to the workshop.   A closing discussion will follow. The workshop report will be written on the basis of these findings and will include an agenda for future exploration and cooperation; it will

be made available through the WWW and FTP. (Estimated time: 50-60 minutes for five teams)

(Total estimated time: 285-315 minutes, i.e. about five hours +/- 15 minutes; lunch and breaks are not included.)

We will be updated based on acceptance process

Mar. 18, 2007: Full paper and short paper due
Mar. 25, 2007: Decision notification (electronic)
Apr. 30, 2007: Camera-ready copy and author registration due

July 27, 2007: The workshop Date

Chair and Point of Contact:

Dr. M.E. Fayad

Professor of Computer Engineering

Computer Engineering Dept., College of Engineering

San José State University

One Washington Square, San José, CA 95192-0180

Ph: (408) 924-7364, Fax: (408) 924-4153

E-mail: m.fayad@sjsu.edu, mefayad@gmail.com

http://www.engr.sjsu.edu/fayad

Co-Chairs:

Dr. H.S. Hamza (Co-Chair)

Faculty of Computers and Informatics,

Information Technology Department

Cairo University, Orman, Giza 12613 - Egypt

Ph: (02) 335-8355 (office)

E-mail: hshamza@gmail.com

Eduardo M. Segura

vrlSoft, Inc.

2065 Martin Ave., Suite 103

Santa Clara, CA 95050-2707

Phone/Fax: (408) 654-8972

E-mail: esegura@vrlsoft.com, eduardo.segura@sjsu.edu

http://www.vrlsoft.com