Announcement

Software developers have long observed that certain themes recur and endure across different applications and systems. The global interest in patterns represents an effort to catalog and communicate these themes and motives--to provide handbooks of proven solutions to common problems.

KoalaPLoP brings together researchers and practitioners whose interests span a remarkably broad range of topics, who share an interest in exploring the power of the pattern form. KoalaPLoP invites you to add your expertise to the growing corpus of patterns. KoalaPLoP focuses on improving the expression of patterns. You will have the opportunity to refine and extend your patterns with help from knowledgeable and sympathetic fellow patterns enthusiasts.

Topics

All aspects of programs and their production are suitable topics of pattern languages. Patterns might be so specific as to name particular objects, interface elements or implementation structures in a solution; or so general as to describe high-level architectures. They could describe configurations of hardware, software or even people. Patterns may or may not be specific to a domain or programming language. But they always work together with other patterns. We encourage the submission of small collections of patterns that build on each other, and particularly encourage the submission of pattern languages that capture the timeless structures of our industry. Above all, we encourage the submission of patterns that tie into the existing body of published pattern literature.

For examples of patterns from past years, browse the material at the industry Patterns Home Page (http://www.hillside.net/patterns/patterns.html).

Papers

As at all PLoP conferences, we invite submissions of pattern papers that describe in pattern form an individual pattern, a collection of related patterns, or a fragment of a pattern language. The actual subject of patterns need not be original. Rather, preference will be shown to authors best able to exploit the pattern form in the field of computing.

This year we extend the invitation to include papers about patterns, that are not written in pattern form but contain, for example....

1. descriptions of how accepted design patterns are used,

2. descriptions of how systems can be composed of known patterns, or

3. description, discussion or analysis of exisiting patterns.

1. and 2. can clearly be written in pattern form, so authors should choose the most appropriate representation for their ideas. All non-pattern-form papers will be shepherded and workshopped in the normal fashion.

Very liberal revision policies will insure that authors can incorporate insights obtained at the conference into the published proceedings.

Detailed submission requirements are available on KoalaPLoP's Web page http://www.mcs.vuw.ac.nz/~kplop/.

Submissions should be sent to kplop@mcs.vuw.ac.nz. You will be assigned a shepherd who will review your paper and suggest improvements. At the end of the shepherding period, the program committee will evaluate papers for inclusion in the conference workshops. Authors will be notified whether their papers are accepted by 19th April 2002.

Proceedings

All papers accepted for workshopping will be distributed to each attendee at the commencement of the conference in a loose-leaf binder, as per PLoP convention. After the conference, authors will be given the opportunity to incorporate feedback from their writer's workshops and submit a revised version of their paper.

The resulting papers will appear *after the conference* in a proceedings in the series of Conferences on Research and Practice in Information Technology, published by the Australian Computer Society. Further details of ACS publication will be announced shortly.

Authors are also encouraged to seek subsequent publication of their patterns in works such as the SPS series (http://www.awl.com/patterns/) after the conference.

Calendar

We encourage early submissions -- starting immediately!

Conference

The conference will be held at The Country Place, a conference venue high in the pristine Dandenong range about an hour's drive east of Melbourne, Australia. Accommodation is available on site. There will be shuttle service from Melbourne to the venue; details will be forthcoming.

In addition to Writer's Workshops, the conference will offer discussions of important and contemporary pattern-related topics in a casual, workshop/BoF setting. Every effort will be made to provide an informal and creative atmosphere. Activities being considered include facilitated games, a conference theme dinner, guest speaker(s), a night nature walk (a very popular activity last year) in addition to the unconventional games and activities unique to the PLoP conference series.

Registration

Everyone who plans to attend KoalaPLoP should register. This includes authors, non-authors, students, staff, and conference organizers. Space is limited, and preference will be given to authors; non-authors may attend, space permitting.

Registration will be handled electronically. See the conference web page http://www.mcs.vuw.ac.nz/~kplop/ for more details.

Further Information

• See the KoalaPLoP web page
• Send us E-mail:

Conference Chairs

Program Chairs

James Noble kjx@mcs.vuw.ac.nz
Brian Foote foote@refactory.com