TCS Excellence in Computer Science (TECS) Week 2003
January 3–9 2003, TRDDC, Pune

Events

TECS Week ’03, the first TCS Excellence in Computer Science Week was held at TRDDC Pune from 3rd to 9th January 2003. The topic for this TECS Week was Program Analysis, as this is a field rich in theoretical content and practical applications. Three main courses of six hours each were conducted on the topics of abstract interpretation, data flow analysis and set constraint-based analysis. In addition, there were two invited lectures, one on type systems and the other on the use of abstraction in program verification. The first half-day of TECS Week ’03 was devoted to providing the participants with a background on program analysis and a demonstration on TRDDC’s program analysis framework—Darpan.

The faculty at TECS Week ’03 consisted of researchers who are well-known for their contributions to the respective fields. These were Prof. Chris Hankin of Imperial College, Dr. Nevin Heintze of Agere Systems Research and Dr. Ganesan Ramalingam of IBM research. Invited lectures were given by two members of the International Adivsory Board (IAB) of TECS Week, Dr. Natarajan Shankar of SRI and Prof. Amir Pnueli of Weizmann Institute, Israel. Prof. He Jifeng of UNU/IIST, Macau and Prof. Jayadev Misra of the University of Texas, both members of the IAB, were also present at TECS Week ’03.

Participation at TECS Week ’03 was open to any interested person with a background in Computer Science from India and neighbouring countries. Around 65 participants attended, (including 15 from TRDDC), of which around 20 (including TRDDC) were from the industry and the rest were from academia or research. The institutes represented were across the spectrum — ranging from the IITs and IISc to the different RECs, University of Pune and Government College of Engineering, Pune. There were four participants from outside India — two from Nepal and two from Vietnam. 

The general view of the participants was that TECS Week was an excellent initiative that will help in increasing awareness of Computer Science in India and the near-by countries. It was also felt that the standard of the faculty and lectures was outstanding.