MICROSOFT RESEARCH =
Connections, Computer=20
Science Theme
Software =
Engineering=20
Innovation Foundation (SEIF) NEWSLETTER
December 2011
Summary
In 2010, =
Microsoft=20
Research embarked on a mission to organize a program =
encouraging=20
research in software engineering. As a result, we instituted =
the=20
Software Engineering Innovation Foundation (SEIF), which =
pursued its=20
mission through a series of events, workshops and a Request =
For=20
Proposals (RFP). Since its inception, SEIF has successfully =
awarded twenty two (22) research awards =
(2010 and=20
2011), and organized multiple events showcasing SEIF=20
achievements. The following newsletter aims to showcase some =
of the=20
research projects being pursued with SEIF funding, and =
inform of the=20
upcoming SEIF 2012 RFP call.
NEWS
SEIF 2012 RFP Announced
![3D"Description:](3D"https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=3D2&ik=3D7ca90dd22b&view=3D=)
A request for proposals for SEIF 2012 was =
announced=20
in October 2011, with the application deadline of January 6, =
2012.=20
Winners of SEIF 2012 will be notified on March 26,=20
2012.
The=20
areas of mobile and cloud computing are of particular recent =
interest, and are where some of the most exciting and =
innovative=20
work is being done. We are therefore pleased to invite =
researchers=20
in software engineering especially where it is applicable to =
mobile=20
and cloud computing.
The 2nd =
Workshop on=20
Developing Tools as Plug-ins (TOPI II) accepted as an ICSE =
2012=20
Workshop
After the =
successful=20
launch of Workshop on Developing Tools as Plug-ins (TOPI I) at=20
ICSE 2011 in Hawaii, we are pleased to =
announce=20
that TOPI II has been accepted as a workshop at ICSE=20
2012.
Showcase of =
SEIF 2010=20
Research Projects
A Type =
System with=20
Subtyping for Program Generation Using=20
Quasiquotations
Baris=20
Aktemur
=C3=96zye=C3=B0in University, =
Turkey
Assistant Professor of=20
Computer Science
This project =
extends F#=20
with quote/unquote facilities to be able to do program =
generation=20
using a "program fragments as data" approach, similar to =
Lisp's=20
quotation mechanism, in a fully type-safe manner. Read more.
Resource=20
Usage Contracts for .NET
Diego=20
Garbervetsky
University of Buenos Aires,=20
Argentina.
Professor at the Computer Science, and in =
charge of=20
the Secretary of Research and Technology Transfer in their =
CS=20
Department.
The =
project=20
involved design of an annotation language for specifying =
dynamic=20
memory consumption that resembles that of Code Contracts. =
These=20
annotations are translated into assertions that can be =
checked using=20
Clousot - the Code Contracts engine - and a point-to =
analysis. Read=20
more.
Automatically=20
Finding Help for Framework Usage - Reverb
Gail=20
Murphy
University of =
British=20
Columbia, Canada.
Professor, Software Practices Lab, =
Department=20
of Computer Science.
This project aims to provide a =
developer=20
with easy recall of useful web resources by providing =
suggestions of=20
web resources to revisit based on a developer=E2=80=99s =
current activity. As=20
one part of this work, the PIs are gathering statistics on =
the=20
revisits of developers to software-related web resources. =
This study=20
is open to developers using Firefox and Chrome for browsing. =
If you=20
would like to take part, please email Nick Sawadsky (nicks@cs.ubc.ca).
SimSYS: A Game Development Platform for Serious=20
Games
Kendra M.L.=20
Cooper, University of Texas at Dallas, in collaboration =
with Dr.=20
Shaun Longstreet (Marquette Univ., USA); Dr. Alf Wang =
(Norwegian=20
University of Science and =
Technology)
SimSYS seeks =
to provide=20
a unique, valuable development platform for serious =
(educational)=20
games, which supports semi-automated game creation, =
automated player=20
and game assessment, automated game adaptation, and a Game =
Play=20
Engine. Read more.
Showcase of =
SEIF 2011=20
Research Projects
Software=20
Engineering for Usable Mobile Privacy=20
Management
Bashar =
Nuseibeh
Department of Computing, The Open =
University, UK=20
& Lero, University of Limerick, =
Ireland
This =
project=20
is developing a framework and tools that will allow =
developers of=20
mobile applications to demonstrate how their software =
satisfies a=20
given set of privacy requirements, by developing the notion =
of=20
privacy arguments. Read more.
Interactive Refactoring for =
Parallelism
Danny=20
Dig
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, =
United=20
States.
Visiting Research Assistant Professor, Department =
of=20
Computer Science
With the =
release of Microsoft Roslyn infrastructure, this =
project has=20
embarked on an ambitious journey to study concurrency =
constructs in=20
500 C# projects. This involves sifting through the large =
data in=20
order to figure out which refactorings for parallelism are =
most=20
needed.
Augmenting Social Awareness in a Collaborative =
Development=20
Environment
Filippo=20
Lanubile
University of Bari, Italy.
Associate =
Professor,=20
Department of Computer Science.
The goal of our =
SocialTFS=20
project is to bring social awareness into global software =
projects=20
in order to develop and consolidate trust-based =
relationships=20
between distant project members that do not know each other =
or=20
infrequently work together. Read more. =20
SHARD: Software Hardening for JavaScript
Jan=20
Vitek
Purdue University, United States.
Professor =
of=20
Computer Science
JSBench is a=20
record and replay system which runs on any browser, =
dynamically=20
instrumenting JavaScript to trace non-deterministic aspects =
of its=20
behavior so that they may be replayed deterministically. =
Read more.
RefFinder: An Extensible Framework for Refactoring=20
Reconstruction
Miryung=20
Kim
The =
University of Texas=20
at Austin, United States.
Assistant Professor, Electrical =
and=20
Computer Engineering.
In this SEIF proposal, the PIs =
have=20
proposed an algorithm that automatically infers refactoring=20
instances by comparing the old and new program =
version. =20
Building on top of the SEIF project, we are currently =
investigating=20
the question of "Is Refactoring Worth It?" =
Read more.
Extending=20
Boogie to Support the Analysis of B Machines
Nestor Cantano:
Universidade da =
Madeira,=20
Portugal.
Assistant=20
Professor in Software Engineering in the department of =
Mathematics=20
and Engineering.
The goal of =
this SEIF=20
project is to bridge refinement calculus based verification=20
techniques in B with the Dafny tool developed by Microsoft =
Research. The=20
Dafny tool has been integrated as a proof engine of the =
Rodin formal=20
methods tool.
&n=
bsp;
Building =
and Mining a=20
Repository of Developer Interactions for Visual=20
Studio
Romain=20
Robbes
University of =
Chile,=20
Chile.
Assistant Professor, empirical software =
engineering and=20
mining software repositories.
The goal of =
the project=20
is to develop a plugin for the Visual Studio IDE that =
records, with=20
great accuracy, how developers build software systems. The =
aim is to=20
record the largest amount of fine-grained events possible, =
and, in=20
the medium term, populate a repository of recorded =
development=20
sessions that will allow researchers to study the many =
aspects of=20
the development process based on the recorded data.=20
Awards
The=20
first Microsoft Research Distinguished Artifact Award =
at ESEC/FSE=20
2011, was=20
presented to J=C3=A9r=C3=B4me Vouillon of =
CNRS and=20
Roberto Di Cosmo of Universit=C3=A9 Paris =
Diderot and=20
INRIA for=20
Coinst, an application based on the paper =E2=80=9COn =
Software Component=20
Co-Installability.=E2=80=9D This new, competitive award honors the most =
outstanding=20
software tool submitted to the ESEC/FSE series of =
conferences. As=20
explained in the call for submissions, the Distinguished =
Artifact=20
competition is intended to reward creation of artifacts and=20
replication of experiments. Read=20
more.=20
Project Crystal recognized with an ACM=20
SIGSOFT Distinguished Paper Award at the European =
Software=20
Engineering Conference and the ACM SIGSOFT Symposium on the=20
Foundations of Software Engineering (ESEC/FSE) in =
Szeged,=20
Hungary (September 5=E2=80=939, 2011). Read more.
With best =
regards,=20
Judith Bishop | Director Computer Science | Microsoft Research Connections=20
Phone:=20
+1 425 706 =
2004
Arjmand Samuel,=20
PhD
Senior=20
Research Program Manager, Computer Science=20
Microsoft=20
Research Connections
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