Bertrand Meyer is a professor emeritus at ETH Zurich and also professor of Software Engineering and Provost at Constructor Institute of Technology. He is among the leading experts in software engineering. He invented the programming language Eiffel and contributed numerous influential papers and textbooks. From 2001 to 2016, he was professor of software engineering at ETH Zurich, where he pursued research on building trusted components (reusable software elements) with a guaranteed level of quality. He was Chair of the ETH Computer Science department from 2004 to 2006. For thirteen years, he taught the Introduction to Programming course at ETH Zurich. He is an ACM and an IFIP fellow, holds an honorary doctorate from the University of York and numerous other awards, including the Dahl-Nygaard prize, the ACM Software Systems Award and the IEEE Harlan D. Mills Award.

Dylan Beattie is a consultant, software developer and international keynote speaker. He’s has been building data-driven web applications since the 1990s; he’s managed teams, taught workshops, and worked on everything from tiny standalone websites to complex distributed systems. He’s a Microsoft MVP, and he regularly speaks at conferences and user groups all over the world. Dylan is the creator of the Rockstar programming language, the director of Ursatile, and the founder of The Linebreakers, the world’s greatest tech comedy party rock band.

LOCATION: Zürich
KEYWORDS: AI, Concept, Technology, Research

With the advent of large language models and generative AI tools such as ChatGPT or Github Copilot, the old dream of automated programming seems to come true: stakeholders describe their problem and a machine generates the code that solves the problem. So, are we at the edge of a revolution, where generative AI is making software engineering obsolete? Or are we currently experiencing a wave of hype that will leave us disillusioned when the wave is over?
We have invited experts in the field to discuss this topic. In two keynotes and a panel, they will discuss the impact of generative AI on the future of software engineering.

In the first keynote, Bertrand Meyer will present his view on the state of the art and the future of software engineering. In the second keynote, Dylan Beattie will look at innovations that, with hindsight, have changed the world and what that means for understanding the impact of AI.

In a panel moderated by Martin Glinz (UZH), the panelists will discuss the opportunities and the challenges of AI in software engineering. Panelists are - besides the speakers - Daniel Zeiter (Ergon), Dimitris Andreadis (Red Hat) and Patrick Schnell (schnell.digital)

This is a Joint event with SI-SE

Where is Software Engineering Heading?

SPEAKER: Bertrand Meyer   COMPANY: Bertrand Meyer's technology+ blog

Where is software engineering heading? The CrowdStrike event highlighted – in an even more dramatic way than earlier catastrophes – the risks of not paying enough engineering attention to software production and evolution. Will AI save the day? In fact LLMs have a role to play but are unlikely to change the basic game. The talk will reflect on the state of the art in software engineering and present some fresh perspectives on how better to get a grasp on the technology that lies at the heart of so many of the modern world’s processes.

LEVEL OF TALK: Intermediate p>LANGUAGE: Talk: en / Slides: en

Is AI a Useful Tool or an Existential Threat to Humanity?

SPEAKER: Dylan Beattie   COMPANY: Ursatile

With the benefit of hindsight, it’s easy to see the tipping points, to identify the moments when a particular technology or idea achieved critical mass, when something went from being an interesting prototype to a viable product – but for people who were there at the time, it often wasn’t nearly so obvious. In an industry that’s perpetually excited about the “next big thing”, how do developers and technologists decide what to focus on? Should we be thinking about augmented reality? Will machine learning replace developers? Is AI a fun toy, a useful tool – or an existential threat to humanity? Join Dylan Beattie for an entertaining look at the innovations that really did change the world (and a few that didn’t!), and how understanding our history can help us make sense of the next digital revolution – whatever that turns out to be.

LEVEL OF TALK: Intermediate p>LANGUAGE: Talk: en / Slides: en

Panel Discussion

SPEAKER: Daniel Zeiter   COMPANY: Ergon Informatik AG
SPEAKER: Patrick Schnell   COMPANY: schnell.digital
SPEAKER: Dimitris Andreadis   COMPANY: Red Hat
SPEAKER: Martin Glinz   COMPANY:

Bertrand Meyer, Dylan Beattie, Daniel Zeiter, Patrick Schnell, Dimitris Andreadis
MODERATOR: Martin Glinz

The integration of AI-driven tools like Copilot and ChatGPT is rapidly transforming software development processes. For skilled software engineers, these tools can significantly boost productivity. However, the indiscriminate use of generated code presents potential risks. Recent studies suggest a decline in code quality following the widespread adoption of such AI-assisted tools.A panel discussion featuring experts from both academia and industry will delve into the question of whether and how AI can effectively support software engineering.

Martin Glinz
He is a full professor emeritus at the University of Zurich (UZH). From 1993 until July 2017, he was a professor of Informatics at UZH's Department of Informatics. From 2007-2016, he also was the department head. His interests include requirements and software engineering – in particular modeling, validation, quality, and evolution. He received a Dr. rer. nat. from RWTH Aachen University in 1983. Before joining the University of Zurich, he worked in industry for ten years where he was active in software and requirements engineering research, development, training, and consulting. He is on the board of the Swiss Informatics Society SI and of the SI-SE SIG. He also is past president of the Swiss Informatics Research Association (SIRA).

Daniel Zeiter
He graduated as a MSc ETH in Computer Science. He is the Head of Technology & IT at Ergon Informatik AG. He has years of experience as a software engineer and architect. Technology and trends are his passion. Among many topics, in recent years his focus was DevSecOps and the cloud. These two shifts enabled real continuous deployment by treating infrastructure as code. He is always up for a technical discussion and likes to explore the latest technologies.

Patrick Schnell
He is a computer-scientist and the CEO of schnell.digital, an innovative software agency. With over 17 years of experience, he develops tailor-made solutions for various industries. His passion lies in new technologies such as NoSQL databases, hybrid app development, and especially artificial intelligence. For years, he has been deeply involved with AI and is recognized as an expert author in this field. As a writer and speaker, he shares his extensive knowledge and inspires other developers through professional articles, books and presentations. His book will be available end of September.

Dimitris Andreadis
He has 25 years of experience in IT and he is currently Director of Engineering at Red Hat in charge of the Quarkus team and the Cloud Native Runtimes group. Before that he was running the WildFly/JBoss Enterprise Application Server team for several years. He also served as the JBoss AS project lead and he has been a JBoss addict and contributor from the early start-up days.

Bertrand Meyer is a professor emeritus at ETH Zurich and also professor of Software Engineering and Provost at Constructor Institute of Technology. He is among the leading experts in software engineering. He invented the programming language Eiffel and contributed numerous influential papers and textbooks. From 2001 to 2016, he was professor of software engineering at ETH Zurich, where he pursued research on building trusted components (reusable software elements) with a guaranteed level of quality. He was Chair of the ETH Computer Science department from 2004 to 2006. For thirteen years, he taught the Introduction to Programming course at ETH Zurich. He is an ACM and an IFIP fellow, holds an honorary doctorate from the University of York and numerous other awards, including the Dahl-Nygaard prize, the ACM Software Systems Award and the IEEE Harlan D. Mills Award.

---

Dylan Beattie is a consultant, software developer and international keynote speaker. He’s has been building data-driven web applications since the 1990s; he’s managed teams, taught workshops, and worked on everything from tiny standalone websites to complex distributed systems. He’s a Microsoft MVP, and he regularly speaks at conferences and user groups all over the world. Dylan is the creator of the Rockstar programming language, the director of Ursatile, and the founder of The Linebreakers, the world’s greatest tech comedy party rock band.

---