HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: trp@gtech.com (Tom R. Peterson (consultant))
Subject: Request: Introductory Z readings, scope of usage
Organization: GTECH Corporation, West Greenwich, RI
Date: Wed, 6 Jan 1993 17:18:23 GMT

Other than scanning software eng. materials in bookstores, I
have not been exposed to Z, and have a couple questions:

1) Would Z have any advantage over C for 2-3 person teams?
2) How long has it taken you to comfortably spec in Z?
3) Does Z include interface design components?
4) What introductory reading is recommended?  Is there a FAQ?

Thank you,

Tom Peterson
trp@gtech.com
From: rosalind@logcam.co.uk (Rosalind Barden)
Newsgroups: comp.specification.z
Subject: The ZIP project
Date: 5 Jan 93 14:47:29 GMT
X-Mailer: mail-news 2.0.3


Dear Richard Wallace,

With regard to your queries about Z in the UK

The ZIP project is being partly funded by the UK Department of Trade
and Industry and the Science and Engineering Research Council. 
It involves seven partners in the UK (a mix of companies and academic 
departments).

The project has four main themes

*	standardisation of Z
*	methods support for Z
*	tools for Z
*	foundations of Z (eg logic, proof rules).

The project lasts for three years and finishes at the end of Jan 1993.

As far as the standards work is concerned, it has been accepted as a BSI work
item and is under ballot for ISO consideration.  There is a committee of
which John Nicholls is the chair, and he is jointly editing the standard
with Stephen Brien (who has done much of the technical work).  Both of
these are based at the Programming Research Group at Oxford University.

Here in Logica we are leading the methods work.  We have carried out a 
survey of Z users in the UK (a copy of which I could send you if you wish),
a study into various object oriented variants of Z (which has been 
published as a book --- see the monthly message for details), and are 
producing a handbook on using Z (this we also hope to have published).

The tools work has been carried out at British Aerospace where they 
have worked on plugging gaps in the tools market.  Your contact there is
Brian Hepworth who, as the technical manager of the project, could  also
advise on the work in the foundations stream of ZIP.

Perhaps I could ask you what your interest in Z is?  

Rosalind Barden
Logica Cambridge Ltd
Betjeman House
104 Hills Road
Cambridge CB2 1LQ
UK
From: hsg@cs.bham.ac.uk (Howard S. Goodman)
Newsgroups: comp.specification.z
Subject: Z specification of Haskell-like continuations
Date: 8 Jan 93 11:30:17 GMT
Organization: School of Computer Science, University of Birmingham, England
Originator: hsg@fat-controller

Has anyone ever tried specifying continuations in Z, especially the kind of
input/output continuations which are common in Haskell?

Any information or ideas, no matter how sketchy, would be appreciated.

+--------------------+--------------------------------------------------------+
| howard s goodman   |  school of computer science - university of birmingham |
| hsg@cs.bham.ac.uk  |			     - BIRMINGHAM - B15 2TT - england |
+--------------------+--------------------------------------------------------+
From: CIY3@VAXA.NEWCASTLE-POLY.AC.UK (DAVE TURNER)
Newsgroups: comp.specification.z
Subject: timed Z
Date: 8 Jan 93 12:07:00 GMT
X-Mailer: mail-news 2.0.3


    I am currently researching  the development  of real-time safety-critical
systems and am interested in the use of Z to specify the timing requirements
of such systems.
    I should be pleased to hear from anyone else working in this area. I would
also be grateful to receive any papers or information about the use of Z 
for this purpose that you may like to forward me.        
    My email address is DAVE.TURNER@uk.ac.newcastle-poly.vaxa.

Many Thanks,

Dave Turner
Newsgroups: comp.specification.z
From: hendrik@vedge.com (Hendrik Boom)
Newsgroups: comp.specification.z
Subject: Re: Request: Introductory Z readings, scope of usage
Date: 11 Jan 93 20:33:00 GMT
Organization: Visual Edge Software Ltd.

jon@cs.washington.edu (Jon Jacky) writes:
: 
: >2) How long has it taken you to comfortably spec in Z?
: 
: I've been experimenting with Z for over three years.  The specs I've written
: in the last ten months or so haven't been half bad.  Before that, most of them
: were awful, I now realize.   
: 
: The right question to ask isn't "how comfortable is it to write specs," but 
: "how comfortable is it to *read* them"!   Good specs are hard to write but easy
: to read, bad specs are easy to write but just about impossible to understand.
: So, you can learn to read and understand Z quickly, but writing it well takes
: much longer.
: 
: I think most people have found that it is quite difficult to write 
: Z expressively and well, in applications other than the small databases that 
: tend to dominate the tutorial materials.  Partly this is just the inherent
: difficulty of expressing exactly what you want, no more and no less, instead
: of just plunging on and building something that does sort of what you had in 
: mind, more or less.  Partly it's because years of programming tends to warp
: your mind in a particular direction that makes it especially difficult to
: grasp what should be going on in notations such as Z.

I tried to specify -- in Z -- some of the internals of a large program
that I am currently writing before I started.  But I found it difficult;
is seemed bulky and not very informative.  I ended up suggesting the
data structures using C++ classes and fell gradually down the slippery
slope from specification to implementation.  Not a disaster, because
ultimately I needed the implementation, anyway.

Presumably I am still in the phase that you were in in the initial
two years and two months.

It might help me to see some of your specifications -- the ones that
you consider well-written.  I presume that they were written for real
problems, and not just fot tutorial-sized data bases.

-- 
-------------------------------------------------------
Try one or more of the following addresses to reply.
at work:	hendrik@vedge.com,  iros1!vedge!hendrik
at home:	uunet!ozrout!topoi!hendrik
From: cm4230@ccub.wlv.ac.uk ("R.Groves")
Newsgroups: comp.specification.z
Subject: (none)
Date: 6 Jan 93 16:21:34 GMT
X-Mailer: mail-news 2.0.3

Hi, I  would like to introduce myself, I am Rob Groves, a  part  time
student at Wolverhampton University.

I  am at present working on a DOS based Syntax checker for Z,  as
my final year project.

I  am using the Grammer from Mike Spivey's 2nd edition  reference
manual and the software tools Lex and Yacc.

I  would like to hear from anybody, either via the conference  or
privately, who is doing/has done/intends to do, any similar work.

An alternative e-mail address is: GROVES_R_C@BT-WEB.BT.CO.UK
From: pin@nimbus.anu.edu.au (Pin CHEN)
Newsgroups: comp.specification.z
Subject: comments & experience
Date: 8 Jan 93 19:37:31 GMT
X-Mailer: mail-news 2.0.3


Hi, I would like to post following questions:

1. Do we have any formal technique to interpret and analyse a given 
specification for applications in Z?

2. Is it possible to make use of some mathematical concepts such as algebra 
topology, category theory, topos, lattice theory or whatever to construct
a framework of a formal inference system for Z? 

3. What is the current situation about Z-based programming environment?

4. Could Object-Z lead to transformational programming towards a object-
oriented language, for instance C++?

 
The questions above are what I am interested in. I  would like to hear from
 anybody, either comments or experience.


Pin Chen
Computer Science Lab.
The Australian National University
Canberre ACT 0200
Australia

e-mail address: pin@nimbus.anu.edu.au
Newsgroups: comp.specification
From: kanth@andersen.uucp (Kanth Miriyala)
Subject: Formal spec languages on top of C/C++ ?
Organization: Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA
Date: Wed, 6 Jan 1993 21:27:36 GMT


Are there any formal specification languages available on top
of C/C++ environments? I am looking for formal spec languages
that are automatically translated down to C or C++ (perhaps
inefficiently or partially).

Please send me email. Thanks. 

-Kanth

kanth@andersen.com
From: dsg.npl.co.uk
Newsgroups: comp.specification
Subject: Formal specification translators
Keywords: Estelle, LOTOS, SDL, Formal, C++
Date: 11 Jan 93 10:08:56 GMT
Distribution: eunet
Organization: National Physical Laboratory, UK

|> Are there any formal specification languages available on top
|> of C/C++ environments? I am looking for formal spec languages
|> that are automatically translated down to C or C++ (perhaps
|> inefficently or partially).

Our group have recently produced a report on test generation and translation
tools for the formal languages Z, VDM, RAISE, SDL LOTOS and Estelle. In it we 
identified tool support for SDL, Estelle, LOTOS and RAISE capable of 
translating to C or C++.

The report (NPL Report DITC 207/92 - State of the art techniques in automatic 
generation of reference implementations & test code from formal specifications)
can be obtained (free of charge) by contacting Sharon Wilson and giving the 
report number and Report Ref (DITC 207/92).

Contact point:
------------------------------
email: sw@dsg.npl.co.uk
Telephone: +4481 943 7071
------------------------------

Data Security Group,
National Physical Laboratory,
Queens Road,
Teddington,
Middlesex, TW11 0LW,
ENGLAND
From: blackmon@eng.auburn.edu (Ferrol Rawson Blackmon)
Subject: Graphical tools for Petri net simulation
Reply-To: blackmon@eng.auburn.edu
Organization: Auburn University Engineering
Date: Sun, 10 Jan 1993 04:58:03 GMT

Does anyone have an information on tools for graphical simulation of Petri nets?
Any information on this would be appreciated.  

					Thanks,

					Ferrol R. Blackmon
					Auburn Univ.


---
From: src-report@src.dec.com (James Mason)
Newsgroups: comp.specification
Subject: Publication announcement on Larch research paper
Date: 4 Jan 93 20:58:32 GMT
Organization: DEC Systems Research Center



		    PUBLICATION ANNOUNCEMENT
		    ------------------------	
			  
		DIGITAL SYSTEMS RESEARCH CENTER
		-------------------------------

Below is an abstract of a newly available SRC Research Report. 

You can retrieve it via anonymous ftp from gatekeeper.pa.dec.com. The
pathname to it is: /pub/DEC/SRC/research-reports/
Please read the README file before retrieving.

The report is also retrievalbe via DECnet and VMS in the following directory:
DECWRL::"/pub/DEC/SRC/research-reports"
i.e. type at the prompt> dir decwrl::"/pub/DEC/SRC/research-reports"




"Experiences with Software Specification and Verification Using LP, the
Larch Proof Assistant"
Manfred Broy
Report #93, November 12, 1992

69 pages


Author's abstract: 

We sketch a method for deduction-oriented software and system development
The method incorporates formal machine-supported specification and 
verification as activities in software and systems development. We
describe experiences in applying this method. These experiences have
been gained by using the LP, the Larch proof assistant, as a tool for 
a number of small and medium size case studies for the formal development 
of software and systems. LP is used for the verification of the
development steps. These case studies include

	* quicksort
	* the majority vote problem
	* code generation by a compiler and its correctness
	* an interactive queue and its refinement into a network

The developments range over levels of requirement specifications, designs 
and abstract implementations. The main issues are questions of a
development method and how to make good use of a formal tool like LP in
a goal-directed  way within the development. We further discuss of the 
value of advanced specification techniques, most of which are deliberately 
not supported by LP and its notation, and their significance in development.
Furthermore, we discuss issues of enhancement of a support system like
LP and the value and the practicability of using formal techniques such 
as specification and verification in the development process in practice.
From: kuhn@swe.ncsl.nist.gov (Rick Kuhn)
Newsgroups: comp.specification
Subject: Re: Formal spec languages on top of C/C++ ?
Date: 7 Jan 93 14:44:47 GMT
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL6]

Kanth Miriyala (kanth@andersen.uucp) wrote:
: 
: Are there any formal specification languages available on top
: of C/C++ environments? I am looking for formal spec languages
: that are automatically translated down to C or C++ (perhaps
: inefficiently or partially).
: 
: Please send me email. Thanks. 
: 
: -Kanth
: 
: kanth@andersen.com

The NIST Estelle tools, Portable Estelle Translator (pet) and Distributed
Implementation Generator (dingo), can generate C and C++ from formal
specs.  Estelle is the extended state transition language developed in ISO
for OSI protocol specifications.  It's useful for distributed system specs
as well.  See the anonymous ftp directory pub/petdingo on osi.ncsl.nist.gov.

--

Rick Kuhn                                   Telephone: +1 301 975 3337       
Natl Institute of Standards & Technology    Fax:       +1 301 590 0932      
Technology Bldg. B266                       Internet: kuhn@swe.ncsl.nist.gov
Gaithersburg, Md.  20899  USA                       DRKuhn@dockmaster.ncsc.mil
Newsgroups: comp.parallel,comp.sources.wanted,alt.sources.wanted
From: hackeron@athena.mit.edu (Harris L Gilliam)
Subject: Parallel dynamic programing, policy iteration, linear prog, value  iteration, infinite horizon problems
Apparently-To: comp-parallel@bloom-beacon.mit.edu
Keywords: dynamic programing, policy iteration, linear prog, value iteration, infinite horizon problems
Organization: MIT Project Athena
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 1993 07:44:44 GMT


Hi,

	I'm looking for references or code of parallel implementations
of dynamic programing methods for finding the value function in
infinite horizon problems.  Specifically the policy iteration, value
iteration and linear programming.  Also specific references and code
for the CM2 is prefered but all info is usefull.



						---Harris


P.S. please reply by email.


--
|Harris L. Gilliam         () 40 Boston Ave. W. Somerville MA 02144 |
|hackeron@athena.mit.edu   ()      hgilliam@media-lab.media.mit.edu |
|!bloom-beacon!mit-athena!hackeron            bishop@cmns.think.com |
|harris@fly.lcs.mit.edu					<><~~~      |

Newsgroups: comp.parallel
From: wtk@myrias.ab.ca (Wayne Karpoff)
Subject: Re: definition of parallel efficiency
Apparently-To: uunet!comp-parallel
Organization: Myrias Computer Technologies Inc.
	<kitchel.726766135@manta>
Date: 	Tue, 12 Jan 1993 09:42:43 -0700

Stephen Vavasis <vavasis@cs.cornell.EDU> writes:
>I have seen two definitions of "parallel efficiency" in the literature,
>and I am wondering whether one definition or the other has prevailed.


I just read a paper with a great summary on the opinions of this 
stuff. 

Kumar, Vipin and Gupta, Anshul, "Analyzing Scalability of Paral-
     lel Algorithms and Architectures," TR 91-18, University of
     Minnesota, Department of Computing Science, November 1991
     (Revised November 1992). 

I got it (second hand) from the second author agupta@cs.umn.edu
--
--------------------------------------------------------
Wayne T. Karpoff,  Dir. Bus. Dev.      wtk@myrias.ab.ca
Myrias Computer Technologies Inc.      8522 Davies Road
(403) 463-1337 Fax (403) 465-0130      Edmonton Alberta
--------------------------------------------------------
-- 
--------------------------------------------------------
Wayne T. Karpoff,  Dir. Bus. Dev.      wtk@myrias.ab.ca
Myrias Computer Technologies Inc.      8522 Davies Road
(403) 463-1337 Fax (403) 465-0130      Edmonton Alberta

Newsgroups: comp.parallel
From: steffen@fb3-s7.math.TU-Berlin.DE (Matthias Steffen)
Subject: info on FORGE 90 ?
Organization: FB3, TU-Berlin, Germany.
Date: 4 Jan 93 10:36:21


I heard about a tool called FORGE 90 for the parallelization of Fortran
Programs that should be able to produce output for pvm, Express and others.
Has anybody got some info on it or is it still in development ? Is it 
commercial software or freely available ?

Matthias

--
<Matthias Steffen                  | Technical University of Berlin     > 
<steffen@fb3-s7.math.tu-berlin.de  | Department of Mathematics          >

Newsgroups: comp.parallel
From: David Crooke <dcc@dcs.ed.ac.uk>
Subject: Re: List of world's most powerful computing sites
Apparently-To: comp-parallel@uknet.ac.uk
Reply-To: David Crooke <dcc@dcs.ed.ac.uk>
Organization: Dept of Computer Science, Edinburgh U
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1993 12:52:31 GMT

Also, it appears most European military sites are being naturally
modest :-)

Dave

-- 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
David Crooke, Department of Computer Science, University of Edinburgh
Janet dcc@ed.dcs  :  Internet dcc@dcs.ed.ac.uk  :  IP talk dcc@129.215.160.2
Home: 22a Montgomery St., Edinburgh, SCOTLAND EH7 5JS.  Tel: 031 556 0265

Newsgroups: comp.parallel
From: welsh@epcc.ed.ac.uk (E Welsh)
Subject: CFD packages
Organization: /home/welsh/.organization
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 1993 10:18:33 GMT

[This is certainly a FAQ. If someone would collect the answers (or if you
 have the last thread) and send it to me at fpst@hubcap.clemson.edu, I'll
 put the results in a FAQ file on parlib. Steve
]


I would appreciate any information people might be able to give me
regarding parallel (and other high performance) packages that are generally
available (shareware or otherwise) for solving CFD problems. Also the state
of parallelization of real CFD codes and plug-in parallel solvers.

I'll forward what I get to anyone who asks or I'll summarise in this group
if there is enough interest.

Thanks...

--
 _____________________________________________________________________
/ Evan Welsh                                    <welsh@epcc.ed.ac.uk> \
\ Edinburgh Parallel Computing Centre               (+44 31 650 5960) /

Newsgroups: comp.parallel
From: svalle@diku.dk (Per Laursen)
Subject: I need the CFP for WDAG '93
X-Char-Esc: 29
Apparently-To: comp-parallel@dkuug.dk
X-Charset: ASCII
Organization: Department of Computer Science, U of Copenhagen
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 1993 09:59:52 GMT


Would a kind soul out there please mail me the CFP for the 7th Int. Workshop
on Distributed Algorithms (WDAG '93), to be held in Lausanne in September.
I accidentally lost it during a file clean-up >-X.

Thanks in advance, 

Per S. Laursen (svalle@diku.dk)


Newsgroups: comp.parallel
From: dfk@dartmouth.edu (David Kotz)
Subject: Re: mpp technology survey questions
Organization: Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
Date: Wed, 6 Jan 1993 17:28:07 GMT

In article <1993Jan5.210849.26474@hubcap.clemson.edu> rms@well.sf.ca.us (richard marlon stein) writes:

	  Survey Questions on massively parallel computing technology

I agree with Ian Kaplan in that Mr. Stein did not give sufficient
context for this survey, and thus I would be a little dubious about
answering it. 

I was especially surprised by the repeated contrast that seemed to be
drawn between "scalable computation systems" and "shared-memory
multiprocessor systems". Although I suppose some people might
disagree, there is no particular reason why "shared-memory" systems
cannot be "scalable computation systems". To put it another way, a
scalable computation system might well be able to support shared
memory. Look at the BBN Butterfly, KSR, and various software DSM
systems and research prototypes like DASH.

Most people who think shared memory does not scale are usually
thinking that *bus-based* multiprocessors do not scale, which is
basically true.

Shared-memory multiprocessor  <>  Bus-based multiprocessor

dave

--
-----------------
Mathematics and Computer Science
Dartmouth College, 6188 Bradley Hall, Hanover NH 03755-3551
email: David.Kotz@Dartmouth.edu    or   dfk@cs.dartmouth.edu

Newsgroups: comp.parallel
From: svalle@diku.dk (Per Laursen)
Subject: Re: I need the CFP for WDAG '93
Organization: Department of Computer Science, U of Copenhagen
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 09:26:30 GMT

svalle@diku.dk (Per Laursen) writes:

>Would a kind soul out there please mail me the CFP for the 7th Int. Workshop
>on Distributed Algorithms (WDAG '93), to be held in Lausanne in September.
>I accidentally lost it during a file clean-up >-X.

>Thanks in advance, 

>Per S. Laursen (svalle@diku.dk)

I've received several copies of the CFP by now. I thank everybody for taking
the effort.

Thanks,

Per S. Laursen (svalle@diku.dk)


Newsgroups: comp.parallel
From: sscott@mcs.kent.edu (Stephen Scott)
Subject: Received: Pitt Super Ctr email addr.
Apparently-To: comp-parallel@uunet.uu.net
Followup-To: Re: Pittsburgh Supercomp. Ctr. email address wanted
Organization: Kent State University
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1993 02:56:00 GMT

I have been forwarded the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center email
addresses I requested earlier today.

Thanks to all who replied,  Stephen.


Newsgroups: comp.parallel
From: mccalpin@perelandra.cms.udel.edu (John D. McCalpin)
Subject: CM-2/200 stencil question
Organization: College of Marine Studies, U. Del.
Date: Tue, 5 Jan 1993 19:24:19 GMT

I am a bit confused about the relationship between the CM stencil
library and the (newer?) slicewise compiler option.  The CM stencil
library uses a slicewise representation, but is it compatible with
the slicewise compiler?

If not, then I suppose that a finite difference code that makes
extensive use of stencils will probably run quite a bit faster under
Paris (with stencils) than under the slicewise compiler.  Is this
a reasonable conclusion?

Is it time for a Connection Machine newsgroup yet?
-- 
--
John D. McCalpin                        mccalpin@perelandra.cms.udel.edu
Assistant Professor                     mccalpin@brahms.udel.edu
College of Marine Studies, U. Del.      John.McCalpin@mvs.udel.edu

Newsgroups: comp.parallel
From: jet@nas.nasa.gov (J. Eric Townsend)
Subject: Re: List of world's most powerful computing sites
Apparently-To: comp-parallel@ames.arc.nasa.gov
Organization: Numerical Aerodynamic Simulation, NASA Ames
Date: 11 Jan 93 14:36:10

"stgprao" == Richard Ottolini <stgprao@st.unocal.COM> writes:

stgprao> In article <1993Jan11.142744.8429@hubcap.clemson.edu>
stgprao> gunter@tartarus.uwa.edu.au (Gunter Ahrendt) writes:
>	List of the world's most powerful computing sites as of 11-JAN-1993
> [top] +34,148 Mflops - (05-JAN-1993)

stgprao> I thought a 1024-node CM-5 had been shipped.  This would have
stgprao> 128,000 Mflops peak.

Uh, wouldn't that be based on whether or not the CM-5 was fully
stocked with vector boards?


--
J. Eric Townsend --  jet@nas.nasa.gov -- 415.604.4311 (DoD# 0378)
"It is the cunning of form to veil itself continually in the evidence
of content.  It is the cunning of the code to veil itself and to produce
itself in the obviousness of value." -- Baudrillard

Newsgroups: comp.parallel
From: robin@fractal.ireq-num (Robin Duquette )
Subject: List of european parallel technology suppliers
Apparently-To: <comp-parallel@uunet.uu.net>
Reply-To: robin@fractal.ireq-num
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 18:24:06 GMT

I am looking for european parallel technology suppliers.  By parallel technology I
mean a card or a machine driven by PC or workstation.  I am interested in mid-range
priced machines (e.g around 20 000$ U.S.). 

Idealy, I would like the complete addresses of suppliers, but I will settle for a name
and country.

---
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Robin Duquette                              E-mail: robin@ireq-num.hydro.qc.ca
Service Methodes numeriques                 phone : (514) 652-8239
Institut de recherche d'Hydro-Quebec        fax   : (514) 652-8005
1800 montee Ste-Julie,
Varennes (Quebec) Canada J3X 1S1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Newsgroups: comp.parallel