Computing visionary Dr. Alan Kay to present his research on reinventing programming at leading annual engineering software event.
BETHESDA, MD, February 1, 2012 – Dr. Alan Kay, one of the founding fathers of modern computing, will give the main keynote address at the 2012 Congress On the Future of Engineering Software (COFES 2012) being held in Scottsdale, Arizona on April 12-15, 2012.
Among the visionaries who created the foundations of modern computing, Dr. Kay is one of the giants. He is the father of object-oriented programming—the basis for all modern engineering software. He created the conceptual bases for laptop and tablet computers and e-books, and is the architect of the modern overlapping windowing graphical user interface. Among his many honors, Dr. Kay is the recipient of the ACM Turing Award, the Kyoto Prize, and the Charles Stark Draper Prize. These honors are among the highest distinctions in the fields of computer science and engineering, and are considered the equivalents of the Nobel Prize in these fields.
Currently, Dr. Kay is president of Viewpoints Research Institute a nonprofit organization dedicated to both improving "powerful ideas education" for the world's children and to advancing the state of systems research and personal computing. Many of its themes co-evolved with the inventions of networked personal computers, graphical user interfaces and dynamic object-oriented programming.
Dr. Kay's recent research has focused on reinventing programming.
Over time, increasingly complex needs have led to the creation of increasingly complex software, built in an incremental fashion—code on top of code. This process, particularly evident in the realm of engineering software, has led to program structures that can be hundreds of millions of lines of code that is intractable to change, redesign, and understanding. At COFES, Dr. Kay will discuss research towards reinventing programming—from scratch—to overcome this problem.
“Alan Kay is one of a handful of computing pioneers whose visionary ideas have changed the world as we know it today,” said Brad Holtz, president and CEO of Cyon Research Corporation. “His recent research is of critical importance in the field of engineering software, where program complexity creates massive risk. The concepts he will be presenting at COFES could literally transform the industry.”
About COFES COFES, now in its 13th year, is the premier event in the engineering software industry. COFES is a think-tank event, bringing executives from design, engineering, architectural, development and technology companies together to understand the role engineering technology will play in the future survival and success of your business. COFES is renowned for hosting leading keynote visionaries that bring a new perspective to the future of the industry. http://cofes.com
About Cyon Research COFES is a Cyon Research event. Cyon Research Corporation is a think-tank covering analysis of the engineering technology and software markets. Cyon Research provides key information, research, analysis, brainstorming, and consulting to its clients worldwide. Our focus is on the tools, processes, and procedures used in design and manufacturing, construction, and management.
