Ian Pyle - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Ian Pyle
The Computer Journal, 2018
Software & Microsystems, 1982
A discussion meeting was held on 22nd January 1986, at the request of the IEE's Computing and Con... more A discussion meeting was held on 22nd January 1986, at the request of the IEE's Computing and Controi Divisional Board, to air matters of importance arising from the Institution's decision in 1982 to admit software engineers as full members. Speakers included members and non-members of the Institution, and particularly included speakers from the British Computer Society. About 30 people attended, of whom a substantial proportion were members of both the IEE and the BCS.
Safety of a computer-based system depends on the software correctly preventing output devices fro... more Safety of a computer-based system depends on the software correctly preventing output devices from performing dangerous actions by the use of interlocks. The linguistic constructs of Ada* provide the degree of isolation of software components that allows the safety-critical parts to be kept sufficiently small for rigorous analysis, together with assurance that the interlocks cannot be by-passed inadvertently from the less-rigorously checked remainder of the software. The paper gives detailed guidance for all stages of the software life-cycle, from requirements analysis to evolution.
Setting the Scene Information Needs What Are Projects Doing? What Can Methods Do? How Can Tools H... more Setting the Scene Information Needs What Are Projects Doing? What Can Methods Do? How Can Tools Help? Conclusions Appendices Bibliography Index.
Responsibility control systems software for safety safety requirements analysis of safety and dan... more Responsibility control systems software for safety safety requirements analysis of safety and danger software construction principles software structure logical design physical design checking principles formal checks inspection testing evidence for certification.
Performance Engineering of Computer and Telecommunications Systems, 1996
This paper presents work in progress on the quantification and modelling of software in a distrib... more This paper presents work in progress on the quantification and modelling of software in a distributed system. We have used the term “coordination layer” to denote the layer of system software that coordinates the communication and provision of services to an application programs within a distributed system.
Computing & Control Engineering Journal, 1993
From the Publisher: This book brings together contributions dealing with all aspects of software ... more From the Publisher: This book brings together contributions dealing with all aspects of software reuse, reverse engineering, re-engineering and maintenance. It includes material on object-oriented approaches which are considered to be the key to ensuring that these techniques fulfill their potential.
11th Advances in Reliability Technology Symposium, 1990
There is currently much concern about the best way to take into account the possibility of system... more There is currently much concern about the best way to take into account the possibility of systematic faults in a computer-based system. Techniques are available to determine the reliability in the face of random faults (principally hardware), but it has been found difficult to bring the concept of “software reliability” into the framework of those techniques. This paper suggests an approach based on the random occurrence of operational situations combined with possible systematic faults arising from residual (undetected) defects in software or hardware design. The approach is illustrated by three case studies of different kinds of system.
IEE Review, 1991
Object-orientation - a software technology base for the 1990s, T.Hoverd formal methods - can they... more Object-orientation - a software technology base for the 1990s, T.Hoverd formal methods - can they deliver their promise?, T. Farr managing for reuse - lessons learned, J.Favaro project management and automated support, J.C.Boarder SPADE- for program verification, B.Carre a systems analysis approach, J.Camus et al configuration management - you cannot manage without it, R.Lloyd the cost of not introducing quality, M.Rathbone rule-based handling of software quality and productivity models, H.L.Hausen through the minefield of computer systems and the law, R.Loosley.
Data Processing, 1985
An On-Line Modeling System (OLMS) which should be particularly useful to the biomedical community... more An On-Line Modeling System (OLMS) which should be particularly useful to the biomedical community is described which utilizes a process called "overlaying" to simplify loading and executing programs. OLMS has been constructed and implemented as an interpreter; that is, a program that translates and then executes each source statement in sequence where these two operations follow each other in close time proximity. It has been written so that it can be run under the IBM S/360 and the PDP-10 operating systems, but has been implemented only on the PDP-10. OLMS operates from a command language that is executed interpretively through a set of closed subroutines. The user may run a job, save data, get data, and display data. While his program is running, he can access the whole memory. This report consists of a description of OLMS and programmer's reference manuals for both the OLMS graphical system and OLMS. (JY) 10 : = { }1 10.
This software development project took five years from 1968, and engaged 50, rising to 130, peopl... more This software development project took five years from 1968, and engaged 50, rising to 130, people. They were programmers from a commercial company, together with scientists from a government laboratory. In the infancy of software engineering, completely new techniques were established to carry out the task, based on system theory, which are described here. The project was completed in 1973.
Proceedings IEEE Symposium and Workshop on Engineering of Computer-Based Systems, 1996
Approaches to quality management in software-based system engineering (as in ISO 9001) currently ... more Approaches to quality management in software-based system engineering (as in ISO 9001) currently focus on the process rather than the product. The quality of the engineering is necessary (but not sufficient) to ensure the quality of the resulting system. However, to be effective, we must concentrate on the nature of quality in a software-based system, how we can measure or demonstrate it, and what steps we can take to assure it. The paper seeks to answer these questions.
Human languages have developed over tens (perhaps hundreds) of millennia, for humans to inform on... more Human languages have developed over tens (perhaps hundreds) of millennia, for humans to inform one another about human experiences and relationships, and explain them. Human language is powerful and extensive, being able to express what might be, as well as what is, what has been and what will be, often using stories (e.g. Greek myths about thunder and volcanoes). It is also necessarily limited, being constrained by human experience and imagination: the patterns we recognize identify and name – in particular systems and their properties.
The Atlas Fortran compiler and its associated programming system were intended to ease the transi... more The Atlas Fortran compiler and its associated programming system were intended to ease the transition in 1964 of Harwell's computing work from the then current computers to the new Atlas. To do this, we had to have the compiler available when the Atlas arrived. So we made a cross-compiler on the IBM 7090, which produced cards that could be loaded onto the Atlas, needing only the loader on the Atlas itself. By writing the compiler in Fortran, it could translate itself. I think this was the first Fortran compiler written for an non-IBM computer, and the first use of this bootstrapping technique for a compiler.
Current Trends in Computer Sciences & Applications, 2019
Proceedings of the Ieee Symposium and Workshop on Engineering of Computer Based Systems, Mar 11, 1996
COMPLEMENT was a thirty-month project funded by the European Community under the ESPRIT programme... more COMPLEMENT was a thirty-month project funded by the European Community under the ESPRIT programme (Project 5409), to study methods and tools for practical use in the development of real-time and embedded systems. (The project name was derived from COMPrehensive Large-scale Engineering MEthodologies aNd Technology transfer.) Over 100 people from 19 industrial and academic organizations participated, during the period from October 1990 to April 1993. Performance was one of the issues considered in the project, but little progress was made in the first period, other than identifying the problem and planning how to address it. Individual working papers of the project were prepared during the rest of the project, but they have not been coordinated or published coherently. The principal industrial and academic partners involved in this work have used the project, as intended by the CEC, in their own activities. The paper reports the author's understanding of the situation reached in COMPLEMENT, based on these working papers and subsequent association with one of the partners involved.
Software Engineering Journal, 1993
Hardware and software engineers are called upon to collaborate in building complex high-quality c... more Hardware and software engineers are called upon to collaborate in building complex high-quality computer-based systems. This paper seeks to facilitate this collaboration by laying foundations for a ‘common engineering culture’; a coherent, powerful structure of ideas central to system designers and procurers, with particular relevance to IT systems, hardware and software. We define and formalise the notions of ‘system’ and ‘model’, and explore the nature of models of systems in terms of their (quantitatively or qualitatively) measurable properties. We show how the property models of system components combine in the structural model of the system to form the property model of the system as a whole. We also offer illustrative examples from hardware and software to explain the use of models in system specification and design.
Computing & Control Engineering Journal, 1990
The Computer Journal, 2018
Software & Microsystems, 1982
A discussion meeting was held on 22nd January 1986, at the request of the IEE's Computing and Con... more A discussion meeting was held on 22nd January 1986, at the request of the IEE's Computing and Controi Divisional Board, to air matters of importance arising from the Institution's decision in 1982 to admit software engineers as full members. Speakers included members and non-members of the Institution, and particularly included speakers from the British Computer Society. About 30 people attended, of whom a substantial proportion were members of both the IEE and the BCS.
Safety of a computer-based system depends on the software correctly preventing output devices fro... more Safety of a computer-based system depends on the software correctly preventing output devices from performing dangerous actions by the use of interlocks. The linguistic constructs of Ada* provide the degree of isolation of software components that allows the safety-critical parts to be kept sufficiently small for rigorous analysis, together with assurance that the interlocks cannot be by-passed inadvertently from the less-rigorously checked remainder of the software. The paper gives detailed guidance for all stages of the software life-cycle, from requirements analysis to evolution.
Setting the Scene Information Needs What Are Projects Doing? What Can Methods Do? How Can Tools H... more Setting the Scene Information Needs What Are Projects Doing? What Can Methods Do? How Can Tools Help? Conclusions Appendices Bibliography Index.
Responsibility control systems software for safety safety requirements analysis of safety and dan... more Responsibility control systems software for safety safety requirements analysis of safety and danger software construction principles software structure logical design physical design checking principles formal checks inspection testing evidence for certification.
Performance Engineering of Computer and Telecommunications Systems, 1996
This paper presents work in progress on the quantification and modelling of software in a distrib... more This paper presents work in progress on the quantification and modelling of software in a distributed system. We have used the term “coordination layer” to denote the layer of system software that coordinates the communication and provision of services to an application programs within a distributed system.
Computing & Control Engineering Journal, 1993
From the Publisher: This book brings together contributions dealing with all aspects of software ... more From the Publisher: This book brings together contributions dealing with all aspects of software reuse, reverse engineering, re-engineering and maintenance. It includes material on object-oriented approaches which are considered to be the key to ensuring that these techniques fulfill their potential.
11th Advances in Reliability Technology Symposium, 1990
There is currently much concern about the best way to take into account the possibility of system... more There is currently much concern about the best way to take into account the possibility of systematic faults in a computer-based system. Techniques are available to determine the reliability in the face of random faults (principally hardware), but it has been found difficult to bring the concept of “software reliability” into the framework of those techniques. This paper suggests an approach based on the random occurrence of operational situations combined with possible systematic faults arising from residual (undetected) defects in software or hardware design. The approach is illustrated by three case studies of different kinds of system.
IEE Review, 1991
Object-orientation - a software technology base for the 1990s, T.Hoverd formal methods - can they... more Object-orientation - a software technology base for the 1990s, T.Hoverd formal methods - can they deliver their promise?, T. Farr managing for reuse - lessons learned, J.Favaro project management and automated support, J.C.Boarder SPADE- for program verification, B.Carre a systems analysis approach, J.Camus et al configuration management - you cannot manage without it, R.Lloyd the cost of not introducing quality, M.Rathbone rule-based handling of software quality and productivity models, H.L.Hausen through the minefield of computer systems and the law, R.Loosley.
Data Processing, 1985
An On-Line Modeling System (OLMS) which should be particularly useful to the biomedical community... more An On-Line Modeling System (OLMS) which should be particularly useful to the biomedical community is described which utilizes a process called "overlaying" to simplify loading and executing programs. OLMS has been constructed and implemented as an interpreter; that is, a program that translates and then executes each source statement in sequence where these two operations follow each other in close time proximity. It has been written so that it can be run under the IBM S/360 and the PDP-10 operating systems, but has been implemented only on the PDP-10. OLMS operates from a command language that is executed interpretively through a set of closed subroutines. The user may run a job, save data, get data, and display data. While his program is running, he can access the whole memory. This report consists of a description of OLMS and programmer's reference manuals for both the OLMS graphical system and OLMS. (JY) 10 : = { }1 10.
This software development project took five years from 1968, and engaged 50, rising to 130, peopl... more This software development project took five years from 1968, and engaged 50, rising to 130, people. They were programmers from a commercial company, together with scientists from a government laboratory. In the infancy of software engineering, completely new techniques were established to carry out the task, based on system theory, which are described here. The project was completed in 1973.
Proceedings IEEE Symposium and Workshop on Engineering of Computer-Based Systems, 1996
Approaches to quality management in software-based system engineering (as in ISO 9001) currently ... more Approaches to quality management in software-based system engineering (as in ISO 9001) currently focus on the process rather than the product. The quality of the engineering is necessary (but not sufficient) to ensure the quality of the resulting system. However, to be effective, we must concentrate on the nature of quality in a software-based system, how we can measure or demonstrate it, and what steps we can take to assure it. The paper seeks to answer these questions.
Human languages have developed over tens (perhaps hundreds) of millennia, for humans to inform on... more Human languages have developed over tens (perhaps hundreds) of millennia, for humans to inform one another about human experiences and relationships, and explain them. Human language is powerful and extensive, being able to express what might be, as well as what is, what has been and what will be, often using stories (e.g. Greek myths about thunder and volcanoes). It is also necessarily limited, being constrained by human experience and imagination: the patterns we recognize identify and name – in particular systems and their properties.
The Atlas Fortran compiler and its associated programming system were intended to ease the transi... more The Atlas Fortran compiler and its associated programming system were intended to ease the transition in 1964 of Harwell's computing work from the then current computers to the new Atlas. To do this, we had to have the compiler available when the Atlas arrived. So we made a cross-compiler on the IBM 7090, which produced cards that could be loaded onto the Atlas, needing only the loader on the Atlas itself. By writing the compiler in Fortran, it could translate itself. I think this was the first Fortran compiler written for an non-IBM computer, and the first use of this bootstrapping technique for a compiler.
Current Trends in Computer Sciences & Applications, 2019
Proceedings of the Ieee Symposium and Workshop on Engineering of Computer Based Systems, Mar 11, 1996
COMPLEMENT was a thirty-month project funded by the European Community under the ESPRIT programme... more COMPLEMENT was a thirty-month project funded by the European Community under the ESPRIT programme (Project 5409), to study methods and tools for practical use in the development of real-time and embedded systems. (The project name was derived from COMPrehensive Large-scale Engineering MEthodologies aNd Technology transfer.) Over 100 people from 19 industrial and academic organizations participated, during the period from October 1990 to April 1993. Performance was one of the issues considered in the project, but little progress was made in the first period, other than identifying the problem and planning how to address it. Individual working papers of the project were prepared during the rest of the project, but they have not been coordinated or published coherently. The principal industrial and academic partners involved in this work have used the project, as intended by the CEC, in their own activities. The paper reports the author's understanding of the situation reached in COMPLEMENT, based on these working papers and subsequent association with one of the partners involved.
Software Engineering Journal, 1993
Hardware and software engineers are called upon to collaborate in building complex high-quality c... more Hardware and software engineers are called upon to collaborate in building complex high-quality computer-based systems. This paper seeks to facilitate this collaboration by laying foundations for a ‘common engineering culture’; a coherent, powerful structure of ideas central to system designers and procurers, with particular relevance to IT systems, hardware and software. We define and formalise the notions of ‘system’ and ‘model’, and explore the nature of models of systems in terms of their (quantitatively or qualitatively) measurable properties. We show how the property models of system components combine in the structural model of the system to form the property model of the system as a whole. We also offer illustrative examples from hardware and software to explain the use of models in system specification and design.
Computing & Control Engineering Journal, 1990