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News Release - July 7, 2011

Symposium Explores How Computer Programs Can Be Made Easier To Write and Understand

CMU Hosts Visual Languages/Human-Centric Computing Conference Sept. 18-22

PITTSBURGH—Computers may be a common part of modern life and work, but the languages and methods used to program those computers continue to confound most people. Researchers who are developing ways to make computer programs easier to write and use will be sharing their ideas at the IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing (VL/HCC), Sept. 18-22, in Pittsburgh.

Hosted by Carnegie Mellon University, the VL/HCC conference will be at the Sheraton Station Square Hotel, with workshops and tutorials before and after the conference on the university’s Pittsburgh campus.

Keynote speakers will be Jeannette Wing, chair of Carnegie Mellon’s Computer Science Department and a proponent of computational thinking as a fundamental skill, and Brian Powell, principal software architect at National Instruments Corporation and a developer of LabVIEW, a graphical programming language that can be readily used by non-experts.

“As computers have become essential tools for business, entertainment, research, learning and an ever-broadening array of important tasks, many people are no longer satisfied just to use existing computer programs — they want to write their own programs to do new and greater things,” said Brad A. Myers, the general conference chair and a professor in CMU’s Human-Computer Interaction Institute. “Researchers from around the world are working to make computer languages accessible to non-experts and will be presenting their best ideas at VL/HCC.”

The early registration deadline for the conference is July 24. For more information on the program and details on attending, visit the conference website at http://www.vlhcc.org/.

The Computer Science Department and Human-Computer Interaction Institute are part of Carnegie Mellon’s top-ranked School of Computer Science.
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Contact:

Byron Spice
412.268.9068
bspice@cs.cmu.edu

About Carnegie Mellon: Carnegie Mellon is a private research university with a distinctive mix of programs in engineering, computer science, robotics, business, public policy, fine arts and the humanities. More than 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students receive an education characterized by its focus on creating and implementing solutions for real problems, interdisciplinary collaboration, and innovation. A small student-to-faculty ratio provides an opportunity for close interaction between students and professors. While technology is pervasive on its 144-acre Pittsburgh campus, Carnegie Mellon is also distinctive among leading research universities for the world-renowned programs in its College of Fine Arts. A global university, Carnegie Mellon has campuses in Silicon Valley, Calif., and Qatar, and programs in Asia, Australia and Europe. For more, see www.cmu.edu.