My ADT Shrine

The 20 WADT 2010 is put into perspective by giving afterglows of the 1 WADT 1982 in Langscheid near Dortmund, and the 10 WADT 1994 in Santa Margherita near Genova. First encounters with pioneers in the field are recalled, in particular with the ADJ group who initiated the initial-algebra approach. The author’s contributions at that time are put in this context. Around 1982, the emphasis of his work moved to databases and information systems, in particular conceptual modeling. His group used a triple of layers to model information systems, data—objects—systems, where the focus of interest now was on objects and systems. The interest in data issues paled in comparison. There were cases, however, where benefits could be drawn from the early work on ADTs and the foundations established in this field. 1 Opening the Shrine In March 1982, Udo Lipeck and the author organized a workshop on Algebraic Specification in Langscheid, Sorpesee, near Dortmund. It took place in the Heimvolkshochschule Sorpesee, an institution of adult education. Figure 1 shows its logo at that time. There were 29 participants coming from 9 universities, 8 German and 1 Dutch. Table 1 shows the list grouped by universities and ordered by alphabet. As for the Dortmund group: at the time of the workshop, Volker Lohberger had left for Essen, Gregor Engels for Osnabrück, and Udo Pletat for Stuttgart. Klaus Drosten, the author, Martin Gogolla, and Udo Lipeck were about to leave for Braunschweig. Many of the other participants moved as well more or less shortly after the workshop. So the group felt that the event should be repeated in order to remain in contact. This way, the Langscheid workshop became the 1 WADT. It was followed by WADTs in Passau (2:1983), Bremen (3:1984), Warberg Castle near Braunschweig (4:1986), Gullane near Edinburgh (5:1987), Berlin (6:1988),Wusterhausen near Berlin (7 1990), Dourdan near Paris (8:1991), and Caldes de Malavella near Barcelona (9:1992). The 10 WADT was held from May 30 to June 6, 1994, in Santa Margherita Ligure near Genova, together with the 5 COMPASS Workshop. Figure 2 gives a view of the beautiful location (left) and the organizer, Egidio Astesiano (right), on an excursion to Genova. T. Mossakowski and H.-J. Kreowski (Eds.): WADT 2010, LNCS 7137, pp. 13–24, 2012. c © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2012