Thecircleisclosed.The European Modula-2 Conference was originally launched with the goal of increasing the popularity of Modula-2, a programming language created by Niklaus Wirth and his team at ETH Zuric ] h as a successor of Pascal. For more than a decade, the conference has wandered through Europe, passing Bled, Slovenia, in1987, Loughborough, UK, in1990, Ulm, Germany, in1994, and Linz, Austria, in 1997. Now, at the beginning of the new millennium, it is back at its roots in Zuric ] h, Switzerland. While traveling through space and time, the conference has mutated. It has widened its scope and changed its name to Joint Modular Languages Conference (JMLC). With an invariant focus, though, on modularsoftwareconstructioninteaching, research, and"outthere"inindustry. This topic has never been more important than today, ironically not because of insu?cient language support but, quite on the contrary, due to a truly c- fusing variety of modular concepts o?ered by modern languages: modules, pa- ages, classes, and components, the newest and still controversial trend. "The recent notion of component is still very vaguely de?ned, so vaguely, in fact, that it almost seems advisable to ignore it." (Wirth in his article "Records, Modules, Objects, Classes, Components" in honor of Hoare's retirement in 1999). Clar- cation is needed."

Programming languages and system architectures are at the frontiers of two different worlds. The conference on which this book is based was an adventure in a land where the two worlds - the formal world of algorithms and the physical world of electronic circuits - interact. The participants explored this land under the guidance of internationally renowned researchers such as Butler W. Lampson, Susan Graham, Jan L.A. van de Snepscheut, and C.A.R. Hoare, all of whom gave invited papers. The volume includes these papers together with sixteen session papers. Subjects of special interest include: programing language design and history, programming environments, programming methods, operating systems, compiler construction, and innovative system architectures.

Niklaus Wirth is one of the great pioneers of computer technology and winner of the ACM's A.M. Turing Award, the most prestigious award in computer science. he has made substantial contributions to the development of programming languages, compiler construction, programming methodology, and hardware design. While working at ERH Zurich, he developed the languages Pascal and Modula-2. He also designed an early high performance workstation, the Personal Computer Lilith, and most recently the language and operating system Oberon.
While Wirth has often been praised for his excellent work as a language designer and engineer, he is also an outstanding educator-something for which he is not as well known. This book brings together prominent computer scientists to describe Wirth's contributions to education. With the exception of some of his colleagues such as Professors Dijkstra, Hoare, and Rechenberg, all of the contributors to this book are students of Wirth. The essays provide a wide range of contemporary views on modern programming practice and also illuminate the one persistent and pervasive quality found in all his work: his unequivocal demand for simple solutions. The authors and editors hope to pass on their enthusiasm for simple engineering solutions along with their feeling for a man to whom they are all so indebted.