| EPSRC Reference: |
EP/D502632/1 |
| Title: |
Datatype-generic Design Programme |
| Principal Investigator: |
Backhouse, Professor RC |
| Other Investigators: |
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| Researcher Co-Investigators: |
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| Project Partners: |
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| Department: |
School of Computer Science |
| Organisation: |
University of Nottingham |
| Scheme: |
Standard Research (Pre-FEC) |
| Starts: |
26 September 2005 |
Ends: |
25 September 2008 |
Value (£): |
84,511
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| EPSRC Research Topic Classifications: |
| Fundamentals of Computing |
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| Panel History: |
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Summary on Grant Application Form |
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When architects design buildings, they usually use an existing pattern , which describes the main structural features of the type of building (house, office, hotel etc.) that they are designing. Computer systems are often very large, and their design is of a similar scale and complexity to extremely large buildings. Also, the reliability of the system is crucial because people's lives may depend on its correct functioning. A comparison might be, for example, with designing an offshore oil rig. Think of not just the rig itself, which has to withstand vast unpredictable natural forces, but also the design of the many different components, from the helicopter-landing pad, to the accommodation and restaurant facilities, down to the electric wiring and lighting, all of which can be very important to the safety of those on board.A novel development in the design of computer systems is to use design patterns to structure the architecture of the system. The reliability of the systems that are developed in this way will be substantially increased if the design patterns can be expressed in a programming language, which is not the case at present. The reason for the increase in reliability is that it will then be possible to develop other programs that check the validity of the use of the design pattern (in the same way as a compiler checks the syntax of computer programs). It will also be possible to reason mathematically about the behaviour of the system in a way that gives better guarantees of correct functioning than is at present possible.This project aims to develop programming language features so that design patterns can be directly expressed in the language and their use automatically validated by a compiler. The basis for the project is recent developments in the way programs are structured -- around the structure of the data they manipulate rather than how they operate.
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Key Findings |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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Potential use in non-academic contexts |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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Impacts |
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| Description |
This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk |
| Summary |
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| Date Materialised |
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Sectors submitted by the Researcher |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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| Project URL: |
http://www.cs.nott.ac.uk/~rcb/papers/abstract.html |
| Further Information: |
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| Organisation Website: |
http://www.nottingham.ac.uk |