General Information
- There are some broken links due to hardware platform changes since 2000,
sorry for that -
last change March 10, 2015
Chair Programming Languages and Compilers
- Compilers
- Programming aids and tools
- Object-oriented design
- Interactive work with computers
- Design Patterns, Frameworks
- Software engineering, quality aspects
- Knowledge-based applications
- Document management
- Web applications
- E-commerce, B2B applications
- Usability engineering
When establishing the chair in 1971, Programming Languages and
Compilers have been the most widely applied programming aid, resp.
the programming tool offered for their implementation. Today,
more dominant are user interfaces, interactive user interface
programs, and user interface management systems (UIMS). Direct
manipulation of a quasi-reality constructed on an object
representation and an object-oriented working model in the
application system are the basis of modern programming systems.
Object-oriented design leads to the integration of user interface
and application interface. There have been offered knowledge
based methods. Some challenging application areas, typically with
interactive handling, are covered, too. And, last but not least,
usability engineering is considered as an important aspect of our
work.
A special task is to realize the involved development systems for
user interfaces (UIDS); it can itself be done by the same
methods. There, the following topics have to be coordinated and
implemented supporting each other:
- direct manipulation of the usable visualized design objects,
- default of the structural connection from a knowledge-based
conceptualization,
- design assessment on an ergonomical viewpoint,
- independent adding of design details based on profound analysis
of processed design-objects as well as those just being
processed,
- also stepwise preparing for prototypical, simulating use of the
developed user interface,
- and, finally, realization and connection of the design objects
with the UIMS, resp. with the final application part.
The chair Programming Languages and Compilers is the contact
address in the field of
Interactive Work with Computers.
Now, with the retirement of Prof. Hoffmann, most activities are stopped.
There is some occasional work in the field, including historical aspects
in the field.
Literature list of papers
Some older and all more recent work can be found here, electronically accessible:
Recent thesis work is listed in the main page of the chair,
The presentation is separated in different topics.
Programming languages and compilers>
These are the original topics of our work, beginning in 1971. Work is referenced here:
The focus of our work has been broadened, however you will always find ideas and
approaches under the general motto "Interactive work with computers", methodologies,
applications, etc.
User Interface Development and Management Systems
In the general description of the tasks the architecture of a
modern integrated programming-aid resp. -tool has been shortly
presented and the coaction of its single components.
One activity (terminated in the meantime) had been the
development of DIADES-I, an UIDS based on the tradition of
structure-bounded editors and an UIMS based on a window system.
A second activity (also terminated) had been the development of
DIADES-II. Here, co-acting of the components, i.e., intelligent
agents, in the UIDS are realized on blackboards. All agents
involved know how far the design is developed and what the actual
topics of design are; they show suggestions for the design
progress, derived from, also object-oriented, special knowledge,
accessible to them. Special emphasis is on usability testing of
the interactive system under development.
Following the architectural concepts of DIADES-I and DIADES-II
typically based upon a multi-agent access on a blackboard, two
more activities (both terminated) have to be mentioned.
The first one, FUZZY-S, applies a multi-agent systems approach to
design, configuration and test of software products in automation
and control application based on fuzzy technology. This project
is part of coordinated activities in the Graduiertenkolleg
Intelligente Systeme für die Informations- und Automatisierungstechnik
offered by the departments of Electrical Engineering and
Computer Science.
References no more available
In a coordinated work with four partners (FORWISS in Erlangen,
(formerly) mediatec in Nürnberg - now Dr.-Ing. Rainer Lutze Consulting -,
a university unit of the Leibniz-University
in Munich and another one of the Techn. University in Dresden) we
developped, as a second activity, the SASSI-component of a system
called EPK-fix for interactive specification of electronic
multimedia product catalogues.
with access to literature listings (there are wrong links in a page
from LMU Munich: the mediatec address is outdated, and in the TU Darmstadt
address replace "TH" by "TU"!)
Another project in the business area is MALL2000, an international project
with partners in Germany, Italy, Bulgaria, and Tzschech Republic (and others).
A different approach is taken in a project which is an associated
part of coordinated activities in the Graduiertenkolleg Intelligente
Systeme für die Informations- und Automatisierungstechnik.
In our previous activities in UIDS and UIMS, mainly in the
DIADES-projects, support of typical office work has been
considered as goal. By Dr. Elke Siemon, in the COMBO-Project support of engineering
work in laboratory process applications is emphasized where
independent processes produce collateral events.
In the above-mentioned projects the interaction model was the
traditional WIMP approach (Windows, Icons, Menus, and Pointing)
as commonly available. In a more recent project the so-called non-WIMP
approach for technology-oriented applications (e.g., robots) has been
studied by Dr. Yongmei Wu (HotWIMP+) and realised using an appropriate design pattern.
Object-Oriented Analysis and Design,
Object-Oriented Programming
Additional to and independent of the UIDS/UIMS-activities we are
intensively engaged in object-oriented languages and their
implementation, also in methodical approaches of object-oriented
analysis and design.
The beginnings have been with Smalltalk, an implementation of
Smalltalk on a LISP-machine, storage administration in imple-
mentations of (also distributed) object-systems; Flavors and
CLOS, C++, and Oberon have been further steps, here more concerned
with questions of application. Working with Eiffel we are
interested in the treatment of assertions in the program text,
combined with the possibilities of the program verification and
the improvement of program reliability. Now, a wide variety of
topics, including C#, were addressed, many of them in the scope of industrial
applications and co-operations.
See in this context the dissertation work by Dr. Wolfram Höpken (HotTourist)
and Dr. Petra Kopp (HotObject), referenced
Interactive Programming Systems
Mainly in the scope of intermediate and diploma thesis work of
students some interactive programming systems have been
developed, mostly suggested by industrial co-operations. Also
studies comparing such products have been done. By this
activities we contribute to a knowhow-transfer where we are also
particularly interested in an ergonomically satisfactory design
of the user interface.
Visually-supported interactive systems are a special area
emphasized in our work. Some results mentioned above or in
the following text below belong also to this subtopic:
The already mentioned COMBO-Projekt (see references at the end
of the section UIDS & UIMS).
The Simple-Project is detailled below in the section Multimedia
Applications.
Knowledge-Based Applications in Computer Science
Working in the DIADES-Project we found knowledge-based techniques
to be applicable. Therefrom, the use of such techniques has been
grown up in different fields of application, also mainly
developed in the scope of intermediate and diploma thesis work
in cooperation with external partners.
Data Bases and Distributed Systems,
Multimedia Applications
Working in industrial co-operations and participating in a DELTA-
Project (CO-LEARN>, see above), although somewhat out of our central
interest, we have considered topics of (object-oriented) database
design and of distributed systems. In the scope of the
project we are also working on multimedia, interactive objects.
Due to the participation in this project the latter field of
activity has been intensivated.
Two activities evolved from the CO-LEARN-activities. Both expand
interactivity to multimedia:
The Simple-Project and the thesis work HOTSIMPLE by Dr. Thomas Kunstmann
considers agglomerations of active cells on a display screen with not only
numerical contents. In other words, the functionality of the well-known
spreadsheets is expanded to form a basis of a much wider scope
of applications, see (sorry, for technical reasons separated):
and
Software Quality
Consideration of software quality becomes, triggered by different
national and international standardization activities, an
important topic. We concentrate on user interface quality and
reported about our findings in some referenced
publications.
About Editors
Some work in the 70ties:
Other Topics
At the end we want to refer to some single reports, often
motivated by industrial co-operations.
Further work, especially thesis work, is listed in the
Programming Languages and Compilers
URL: http://www.h-j-hoffmann.de/PU/allgemeines_e.htm
last updated: February 25, 2015
by: H.-J. Hoffmann