Welcome

Conference Chair: Ron Crocker, Motorola

Welcome to OOPSLA 2003—the 18th Annual ACM Conference on Object-Oriented Programming, Systems, Languages and Applications.

OOPSLA is the premier forum for sharing of knowledge on object technology. This year's program is outstanding. It provides many ways for you to learn, contribute, and exchange ideas and experiences in a broad range of disciplines woven with the common thread of object technology. OOPSLA's collegial atmosphere allows you to rub elbows and share stories with the leaders in the field!

OOPSLA 2003 features five invited talks. The speakers were chosen for their prominence, influence, and creativity. The talks will be intellectually stimulating and entertaining. Four of the talks address open-source software: for the Onward! Keynote talk, Prof. Larry Lessig will discuss the boundaries of intellectual property; the OOPSLA Keynote is by Tim O'Reilly, who will discuss the paradigm shift away from desktop applications to Web-hosted applications; Gerry Labedz will describe how emerging distributed computing systems could mutate into the communications systems of the future; and Erich Gamma will discuss the Eclipse platform. The fifth invited talk, by David Ungar, discusses the paradoxes inherent in programming language design.

OOPSLA's tutorial program features 58 sessions chosen to provide the knowledge you need to be effective in today's demanding research and industrial climate. The workshop program contains 24 half- or full-day sessions. Many recent breakthroughs in object technology started as OOPSLA workshops.

This year's 26 technical paper presentations are outstanding—they have to be to survive the rigorous OOPSLA review process. There are nine panels that showcase the opinions of leading researchers and industry experts in a lively, participatory, educational, and entertaining format. And there are three sessions of Practitioner Reports where "real" developers talk about real-world issues.

OOPSLA 2003 also has two special tracks. The Onward! track, which debuted last year, features presentations that aim to alter or redefine the art by proposing a leap forward—or sideways—regarding computing. The Domain-Driven Design track focuses on a range of emerging technologies that address aligning code and problem domain more closely.

You'll hear about emerging, creative and innovative research during Poster and Demonstration sessions. In these sessions presenters often ask for ideas and feedback from the audience; these discussions are stimulating, and often lead to breakthroughs for both you and the researchers.

OOPSLA 2003 will be a busy and exciting conference. If this is your first OOPSLA join us immediately after the Welcome Reception for the Newcomer's Session. We'll answer your questions and give you some tips for organizing your activities.

Finally, remember that OOPSLA is an interactive experience. You should talk to your fellow object technologist, you should ask questions of the speakers, you should use the ample networking opportunities to interact, and finally you should have fun. Because of your participation, OOPSLA will continue to provide the best environment for object-technology to created, discussed, and shared.

Ron Crocker
Conference Chair