by Michael Lee

SigSoft's purpose is to discuss and learn about topics related to computer software. We could also be called a programming SIG (which has often was the focus of our group in years past), but we are not limited to just that. We have also studied issues in software development, learned how networked programs communicate, examined currently pending programming models and environments or just come up with our own.

Last semester, my predecessor, the infamous Alan Braverman, led a crusade in the exploration of alternative programming environments. In that spirit, I hope to soon obtain a copy of a new operating system, Plan 9, so that SigSoft can experiment with it. Not only does it provide a new programming environment and debugger (curiously named Acid), it defines a new paradigm. Introducing a language called Alef, Plan 9 contains mechanism for distributed, concurrent programming. We're going to have to check this out.

Is that it? No programming projects? Well, there currently is one SigSoft development project, code-named TableTalk. It is a fully distributed framework for playing card games with your friends in a "virtual" setting. This is dissimilar from other programs which restrict you to playing specific games. We only enforce basic interactions between you and the cards. This means you can play any game which is composed of picking up cards, laying them down, giving them to each other, flipping them over, etc. This also means you can cheat (as long as no one notices) - just like in real life. Thus, this is not like playing a computer game, but like playing cards - only at a computer instead of a table. This will be coded in C++ (we haven't learned any better languages yet, sorry) and will have a nice X-Windows GUI written in Motif.

So far, these seem to be the only sure things in SigSoft's future. In the future, I'd like to discuss various distributed and concurrent object issues; which will, of course, involves interprocess communication. Some workshops on this and Plan 9 could well be forthcoming. In addition, a workshop on the Inventor (for easy 3D graphics programming in IRIX or OpenGL) is in the works. We're really looking for other future directions, so if you want to learn about anything at all that's software-related (whether it has to do with networking, IPC, OSs, graphics, or UNIX) you are welcome to join us and give us more to do. We're always looking for more members, so if you have any questions, mail sigsoft@uiuc.edu. You can also see descriptions of past projects in our web page at http://www.acm.uiuc.edu/sigsoft.