I noticed a few weeks ago that Markus Voelter is a fan of Marillion. This took me back to the Eighties when a girl I liked was going out with one of the band members – no chance she was going to drop him for someone who spent their nights in the basement of the Computer Lab though

Anyway, today I notice that Angelo Hulshout is also something of a prog rock fan.

Given my liking of Rush this got me thinking – is there some correlation between liking prog rock and being attracted to Code Generation?

Booking is now open for the Software East evening in Cambridge, UK on Thursday 20th November.

The event costs £15 including a light buffet and we’re very lucky to have a couple of excellent speakers for this, our first event:

Steven Kelly – Moving from Coding to Model-Driven Development

Everybody would like the productivity benefits of modelling with full code generation, but the upgrade path from coding to modelling seems a closely guarded secret. This session will demystify Domain-Specific Modelling, open the lid on the OMG’s MDA, and shine a light on Microsoft’s Software Factories. We will show which bits of Model-Driven Development (MDD) work, which might work, and which don’t, and explain where they can be applied – and where not. Most importantly, we will show the steps to define your own modelling languages and generators to start using models effectively, road-tested in dozens of projects over a decade.

Steven is CTO of MetaCase and co-founder of the DSM Forum. He has over fifteen years of experience of tool building and consultancy in Domain-Specific Modelling. As architect and lead developer of MetaEdit+, he has seen it win or be a finalist in awards from SD Times, Byte, Net.Object Days, and Jolt Productivity. He has co-authored a book and over 20 articles in journals such as Dr. Dobb’s, and regularly speaks at events like Code Generation and Software Architect. Steven is a member of IASA, on the editorial board of JDM, and a full-back in the Finnish 3rd division.

Danilo Beuche – Get started with Software Product Lines – Key success factors and what to avoid

Organisations as different as embedded automotive suppliers and investment banks face the challenge of producing portfolios of similar-but-different software applications. However, many of them struggle with mindsets, processes and tooling that is more appropriate to one-of-a-kind system development without realising that there is a better way…

This talk introduces Software Product Lines – a strategic approach to developing such interdependent product families that has been shown to yield major organisational and financial benefits. Based on extensive experience introducing product lines into a wide variety of organisations Danilo will discuss the key success factors in introducing product lines and highlight the pitfalls to avoid.

Danilo works for pure-systems GmbH, a specialist provider of tools and services for the application of Software Product Line technology. As well as managing the company Danilo also consults extensively on Product Line Engineering, mainly for clients in embedded industries. Danilo has been a tutorial presenter, speaker, workshop organizer and panellist at conferences such as AOSD, ISORC, SPLC and OOPSLA. He is also author of many articles in scientific journals and software development magazines. Danilo has a PhD from the University of Magdeburg for his research applying Software Product Line Engineering to embedded operating systems development.

As well as the talks there will also be plenty of opportunity to ‘network’ in the bar before and afterwards.

The Code Generation 2009 Call for Speakers is now available.

Session proposals are sought covering topics such as:

• Tool and technology adoption
• Code Generation and Model Transformation tools and approaches
• Defining and implementing modelling languages
• Domain Analysis and Domain Engineering
• Software Product Lines
• Language evolution and modularization
• Meta Modelling
• Runtime virtual machines versus direct code generation

The submission deadline is Friday January 16th 2009. Accepted session leaders have their conference fees waived.

Code Generation 2009 takes place in Cambridge, UK from June 16th-18th 2009. Visit the Code Generation 2009 web site for more information about the conference.

Computing notes a silver lining among all the recent clouds in the financial services sector.

Apparently CIOs with “extensive systems integration and due diligence expertise have a golden opportunity to show their mettle” due to increased merger and acquisition activity.

So it’s not all bad news then.

IASA – the software architecture folks – have joined once again as supporting partners for our Code Generation conference.

IASA members will get 10% off conference fees when booking opens next year – instantly recouping your IASA membership dues - so join now! They have lots of great resources on software architecture and several local chapters where you can meet other members.

If you’re fed up with the time, costs and hassle of going to London (or further) to hear from the best software speakers then a new series of software talks we’re launching in Cambridge could be of interest.

The first session will take place on the evening of Thursday November 20th at Downing College, Cambridge.

Steven Kelly – Moving from Coding to Model-Driven Development Everybody would like the productivity benefits of modelling with full code generation, but the upgrade path from coding to modelling seems a closely guarded secret. This session will demystify Domain-Specific Modelling, open the lid on the OMG’s MDA, and shine a light on Microsoft’s Software Factories. We will show which bits of Model-Driven Development (MDD) work, which might work, and which don’t, and explain where they can be applied – and where not. Most importantly, we will show the steps to define your own modelling languages and generators to start using models effectively, road-tested in dozens of projects over a decade.

Steven is CTO of MetaCase and co-founder of the DSM Forum. He has over fifteen years of experience of tool building and consultancy in Domain-Specific Modelling. As architect and lead developer of MetaEdit+, he has seen it win or be a finalist in awards from SD Times, Byte, Net.Object Days, and Jolt Productivity. He has co-authored a book and over 20 articles in journals such as Dr. Dobb’s, and regularly speaks at events like Code Generation and Software Architect. Steven is a member of IASA, on the editorial board of JDM, and a full-back in the Finnish 3rd division.

Danilo Beuche – Get started with Software Product Lines – Key success factors and what to avoid Organisations as different as embedded automotive suppliers and investment banks face the challenge of producing portfolios of similar-but-different software applications. However, many of them struggle with mindsets, processes and tooling that is more appropriate to one-of-a-kind system development without realising that there is a better way…

This talk introduces Software Product Lines – a strategic approach to developing such interdependent product families that has been shown to yield major organisational and financial benefits. Based on extensive experience introducing product lines into a wide variety of organisations Danilo will discuss the key success factors in introducing product lines and highlight the pitfalls to avoid.

Danilo works for pure-systems GmbH, a specialist provider of tools and services for the application of Software Product Line technology. As well as managing the company Danilo also consults extensively on Product Line Engineering, mainly for clients in embedded industries. Danilo has been a tutorial presenter, speaker, workshop organizer and panellist at conferences such as AOSD, ISORC, SPLC and OOPSLA. He is also author of many articles in scientific journals and software development magazines. Danilo has a PhD from the University of Magdeburg for his research applying Software Product Line Engineering to embedded operating systems development.

We’ll be charging a modest entry fee for each talk to cover costs but more details of this will appear on the event web site shortly when booking opens.

We’re also interested in finding out who you’d like to hear from at future events. Contact me through Software Acumen with your ideas.

The next Cambridge Wireless Software SIG event on 20th November in Cambridge, UK will consider the problems of developing for the hundreds of handsets on the market. The Software SIG is championed by me and Peter Hazlett of Symbian.

Current opinion says that the ‘one-size-fits-all’ model just isn’t attainable at present, leaving mobile developers with the challenge of producing several diverse product variants.

This diversity arises from several sources:

• Differences between handsets.
• Operator-specific requirements.
• Market differentiation e.g high-end vs low-end products.
• Legal differences (e.g different laws on gambling).

This afternoon event will outline the scale of the problem, look at ways of addressing it and consider whether the future holds more of the same.  Don’t miss out on your opportunity to share your views, ideas and comments and cultivate new ideas from the speakers at this event.

Here’s details of the three talks at the event:

John Scott, Senior Director of Engineering, Qualcomm
“Diversity and Platform Reuse: Using common platform code to unlock innovation”
We will use BREW Mobile Platform as a case study to show how a common platform approach can increase rather than decrease product diversity. We will look at issues faced by handset manufacturers and application developers and how a platform can free them to focus on differentiating aspects, rather than being buried in a mountain of increasingly complex mobile application software. We’ll share some of the hard lessons learnt and current limitations, as well as success stories.

Danilo Beuche, CEO Pure-Systems GmbH
“Running Mobile Software Development as a Product Line – 2 Fast 2 Furious?”
Running a Software Product Line (SPL) can seem like running an ocean liner: a bit slow in the beginning, running full steam ahead after a while, but then taking an age to slow down and change the heading of the ship if something unexpected happens. However, being agile and able to respond rapidly to changing market needs is at the heart of mobile software development.

This talk will introduce the Software Product Line (SPL) approach, discuss when and how SPL fits with mobile development and present some possible approaches for combining the two.

Steven Kelly, CTO MetaCase
“De-clawing diversity with Domain-Specific Modeling”
As mobile developers you’ve had to make the right decisions about new technologies more often than  most: rejecting those that are duds, waiting on those that are still more hype than substance,  but quick to start using those that really work. It’s no surprise then that the mobile industry has been one of the first to show widespread use of Domain-Specific Modeling: early adopters have  consistently seen productivity improve by hundreds of percent. With DSM, applications are specified once at a high level of abstraction, and code generators take care of producing all necessary versions for different handsets, networks etc. Since you own the generators, you can easily adjust for new platforms or their versions: no interminable waiting for tool vendors to release an update.

In this talk you will see how DSM works to tackle diversity in the mobile space, and learn how you can join those already using it and reap the same benefits.

Events are FREE to Cambridge Wireless Members. Tickets for non-members are £150.00 plus VAT.  To join Cambridge Wireless, and attend all future events for free please visit: www.cambridgewireless.co.uk/sign-up