HONG KONG BAPTIST UNIVERSITY
FACULTY OF SCIENCE

Department of Computer Science Colloquium
2016 Series

Oberon = Education + Innovation

Dr. Fyodor Tkachov
Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Date: November 30, 2016 (Wednesday)
Time: 2:30 - 3:30 pm
Venue: SCT909, Cha Chi Ming Science Tower, Ho Sin Hang Campus

Abstract
The Project Oberon by Niklaus Wirth (Turing Award, 1984) and Jurg Gutknecht (ETH, Zurich) summarizes the essence of programming in a minimalistic language and IDE that are in a stunning contrast with mainstream tools in regard of size, robustness, flexibility and smooth workflow. Oberon has been influencing the IT industry (Java, C#, Golang ...) and proves to be a perfect backbone for systematic programming education encompassing students of ages 12 (introduction) to 20+ (software architecture, compiler construction etc.). It also proves to be a great tool (even a silver bullet in a number of cases) for various projects that are cost sensitive OR require a stringent quality of software OR are immune to the pressures of IT mainstream OR cannot push the costs of the mainstream complexity on to unsavvy customers (as in application areas such as: drones, nuclear power stations, various industrial automation, theoretical and experimental scientific research, teaching programming to 12-year old kids ...). The talk is based on the diverse experiences accumulated by the participants of the educational project Informatika-21 since the late 90s and continues a series of domestic and international presentations, including the following ones:
Austria, 2003: http://www.inr.ac.ru/~info21/texts/2003-08-JMLC/en.htm
Zurich, 2011: https://www.ethz.ch/content/vp/en/conferences/2011/oberon.html
Zurich, 2013: http://ictk.ch/content/informatik-und-die-schule-des-21-jahrhunderts
Beijing, 2013: http://indico.ihep.ac.cn/event/2813/session/3/contribution/38/material/slides/2.pdf

Biography
Dr. Fyodor Tkachov is a leading Researcher at the Department of Theoretical Physics, Institute for Nuclear Research (INR) Moscow, and member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
1979: graduated from the Moscow State Lomonosov University, Chair of quantum statistics and field theory. Since then involved in theoretical development and program implementation of calculational methods for elementary particle physics.
1983: obtained PhD from the USSR Academy of Sciences for devising a method for the so-called multiloop calculations that is currently standard in the field, followed by an array of other solutions.
2002: founded and since then coordinates the educational project Informatika-21 that purports to promulgate scientific rationality in the currently inadequate basic computer science education; the project collaborates with two publishers and has produced six textbooks on programming and related subjects.

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http://www.comp.hkbu.edu.hk/v1/?page=seminars&id=400&lang=sc
Photos  Slides  Software Demo