Scientist To Receive ACM Award For Developing Eiffel Computer Language

SCIENTIST TO RECEIVE ACM AWARD FOR DEVELOPING EIFFEL COMPUTER LANGUAGE

Bertrand Meyer is Recipient of Software System Award for Impact on Software Quality

 
New York, NY - March 29, 2007 - The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) has recognized the Eiffel programming language and its environment, which helps developers create reliable, efficient software that is easy to change and reuse. Eiffel, which will receive the 2006 ACM Software System Award, was developed by Bertrand Meyer, professor of Software Engineering at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) and scientific advisor of Eiffel Software in Santa Barbara, CA. Eiffel is used in mission-critical applications in finance, defense, aerospace, and health care as well as in entertainment. The Software System Award is given to an institution or individual(s) recognized for developing software systems that have had a lasting influence, reflected in contributions to concepts and/or commercial acceptance. This award carries a $10,000 prize, and financial support for the award is provided by IBM.

More than just a programming language, Eiffel is a general method for constructing software systems. It has applications from requirements analysis through design, implementation and maintenance, and is both seamless and reversible. A central feature is the development of a method known as Design by Contract, originated by Dr. Meyer. This approach enables Eiffel to adapt techniques used in proving the correctness of programs to all stages of design and development. It is based on the principles of object technology, of which Dr. Meyer was an early and vocal proponent. In November 2006, Eiffel became a standard of the International Standards Organization (ISO).

Dr. Meyer has been a professor at ETH since 2001. In 1985, he founded Eiffel Software (previously known as Interactive Software Engineering), which produces professional tools and component libraries for business-critical and enterprise software developments. He was an adjunct professor at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia from 1998-2003, and had a technical and managerial career at Electricite? de France from 1974-83. From 1983-85, he was a visiting associate professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Dr. Meyer received the equivalent of a bachelor's degree in engineering from the E?cole Polytechnique in Paris, a master's degree from Stanford University, and a Ph.D. from the Universite? de Nancy in France. In 2005, he was awarded the first AITO (Association Internationale Technologies Objects) Ole-Johan Dahl and Kristen Nygaard prize for significant technical contributions to the field of Object Orientation. He is a member of the French Académie des Technologies; Switzerland's representative on the Technical Committee on Programming of the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP TC2); and a board member of the Institut d'Informatique et Mathematiques Appliquees de Grenoble (IMAG). He was awarded an honorary doctorate from Saint Petersburg State University of Information Technologies, Mechanics and Optics (ITMO) in Russia in 2006.

The author of numerous articles and edited conference proceedings, Dr. Meyer wrote Object-Oriented Software Construction, an extensive discussion of object technology, for which he won the Jolt Award in 1997. His other books include Eiffel: the Language; Object Success; Reusable Software; and Introduction to the Theory of Programming Languages. He currently pursues research on how to build trusted components: reusable software elements whose quality can be guaranteed. He is also exploring new ways of teaching programming based on reuse and contracts, and writing an introductory programming textbook.

ACM will present the Software System Award to Dr. Meyer at the annual ACM Awards Banquet June 9, 2007, at the Del Coronado Hotel, San Diego, CA.

About ACM
ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery http://www.acm.org, is an educational and scientific society uniting the world's computing educators, researchers and professionals to inspire dialogue, share resources and address the field's challenges. ACM strengthens the profession's collective voice through strong leadership, promotion of the highest standards, and recognition of technical excellence. ACM supports the professional growth of its members by providing opportunities for life-long learning, career development, and professional networking.