Peter Achten Currently I am Universitair Docent (lecturer) at the department of Model Based Software Development, at the Nijmegen Institute for Computing and Information Sciences of the Radboud University Nijmegen.

How to reach me

E-mail
Phone	+31 24 3652483
Fax	+31 24 3652525
Surface mail	Peter Achten Dept. MBSD Institute for Computing and Information Sciences Faculty of Science PO Box 9010 6500 GL Nijmegen The Netherlands
Visiting address	Faculty of Science Huygens Building Heijendaalseweg 135 6525 AJ Nijmegen Office: HG02.616

Teaching Activities

Here is more information about the courses I am involved with this year (2011/2012):

	Course:	Institute:	Co-teachers:
	P1 (Programmeren / Programming) Bachelor course	Informatica / Informatiekunde	Ger Paulussen
	P3 (Functioneel Programmeren / Functional Programming) Bachelor course	Informatica	Rinus Plasmeijer
	Vertalerbouw (Compiler construction) Master course	Informatica	Rinus Plasmeijer

Some of the courses that I have taught in the past:

• Algoritmen en Programma's; Functional Programming; GiP2; Systeem Ontwikkeling 1; Integratie Project; Human Machine Interfaces 2; Software Technology 1; Software Technology 2; Quality of Information Systems; Abstraction and Composition in Programming; Advanced Programming; Ontwikkeling van Grote Software Systemen.

Further Activities

• Member programme committee IFL'01.
• Member programme committee IFL'02.
• Member programme committee IFL'07.
• Co-organiser of AFP'08 and TFP'08. Co-chair of TFP'08.
• Member steering committee TFP (may 2008).
  • TFP is a series of international symposia dedicated to promoting new research directions related to the field of functional programming and to investigate the relationships of functional programming with other branches of computer science. It is designed to be a platform for novel and upcoming research, combined with a post-event refereeing process and a formal publication of selected papers as a book. In particular TFP encourages young researchers to present their work at TFP. In recognition of the extra effort spent in giving polished presentations the programme committee of TFP each year gives out a Best Student Paper award.
• Member programme committee IFL'09.
  • IFL is a series of international symposia that covers all aspects of the implementation and use of functional programming languages, including but not limited to: compilation and interpretation, abstract machine design, parallel and concurrent implementation, automatic program generation, novel applications, tools and techniques, program analysis, runtime profiling, memory management, type checking, computer architectures, array processing, debugging and tracing, language concepts, verification and formal aspects.
    Until now, the IFL symposia have been held in Europe. IFL'09 is held in the USA, at Seton Hall University, South Orange, NJ, USA. Its goal is to increase the interaction and collaboration between US-based researchers and practitioners with researchers and practitioners in Europe and beyond.
• Member programme committee and symposium co-chair TFP'09.
• Member programme committee TFP'10.
• Member programme committee TFP'11.
• Member programme committee PPDP'11.
• Member steering committee AFP.
  • AFP is a series of international summer schools which aims to bring computer scientists, in particular young researchers and programmers, up to date with the latest advances in practical functional programming. The main focus of the school is on the interface between results presented at programming conferences and the programming in the real world.

History

After my studies in computer science (at the University of Nijmegen) I have been an AiO (PhD student) at the Software Technology department. This resulted in a PhD.Thesis, entitled "Interactive Functional Programs - models, methods, and implementation". After this project I have worked as a Tewerkgesteld Erkend Gewetensbezwaarde (no translation available :-)) and researcher at subsequent projects at the department. I have developed a library for the functional programming language Clean to create pure functional programs that employ graphical user interfaces. This library is the Object I/O library (have a look). Now I am Universitair Docent (lecturer). During 2004-2011 I have been bachelor-studieadviseur Informatica (student advisor for Bachelor study of computer science). 

Research

I am interested in the application of functional programming languages on 'real world' problems. These kinds of programs impose typical characteristics on the implementation and design of these languages. My current research interests are:

• High-level specifications of interactive applications. These can be GUI applications as well as WWW applications. In the past we have developed several high-level GUI libraries, such as the GEC (Graphical Editor Components) for the desktop, iData (interactive Data) for the web. Currently we are working on the iTask system (interactive tasks for dynamic, functional work flow systems) for the web.
  
• Reasoning about interactive applications. It would be great if the proof assistant Sparkle, developed by Maarten de Mol, could help programmers to create safe interactive applications. I have been working on formalizing the semantics of the above mentioned GEC and iData toolkits, and proving some theorems with the Sparkle tool kit.
  
• Investigate the appropriateness of process algebra with respect to GUI applications.
• Automatic testing of interactive applications. We are working on using testing techniques, developed by Pieter Koopman, for web applications that have been created with the iData toolkit.
• I have developed the Soccer-Fun framework. Soccer-Fun is a functional language library developed for teaching functional programming. You can implement the brain of a footballer and create a team of football players and see if your team is the best! Soccer-Fun is open for participation by anybody who likes to contribute.
• The combination of generic programming and dynamic typing. Both techniques are available in the Clean system.

Here is a list of my publications.

Other interests

Roller blade, playing tennis, billiards, holiday by bicycle/walking, listening to {symphonic, symphonic rock, heavy metal, decent pop} music, reading {science fiction, fantasy, philosophy, comics}, playing computer games (Dragon Age 1/2, Oblivion (Morrowind), Neverwinter Night, Assassin's Creed 1/2, F.E.A.R., Thief, Exile (Riven)).