INTER COMPUTING'82

INTERCOMPUTO'82 Computer Esperanto Conference.

More than two hundred computer science experts from 19 countries welcomed the 1983 World Year of Communications in Budapest, on the occasion of the INTERKOMPUTÓ '82 international computer science symposium and exhibition series organized by the John Neumann Computer Science Society. The symposium was opened by Academician Tibor Vámos, President of the NJSZT. After that, renowned domestic and foreign experts reported on their latest results, including Professor Helmar FRANK (FSR), Director of the Institute of Cybernetics in Paderbon, Dr. Grigorij GEJTIN (Soviet Union), Head of Department at the Zhdanov University in Leningrad, Jan Otto de KAT (Netherlands), Professor at the University of Delft, Dr. Jerzy LEYK, Consultant at the Warsaw Institute of Informatics. Some of the presentations of the plenary session were also recorded by Hungarian Television. The work was carried out in 4-5 sections over three days, so that all 103 presentations, divided into 10 sections that organized the broad theme of the symposium, could be given. The working language of the symposium was Esperanto. The Theory and Practice of Programming section (chaired by Prof. Dr. Helmar FRANK, FRZK) was the most popular, so simultaneous interpretation into Hungarian was provided here. It is very difficult to single out any of the 26 high-quality presentations given in the section. Since the symposium was held in the spirit of the World Year of Communications, the presentation by Dr. Péter Bakonyi - Dr. István Kiss: “Possibilities and Perspectives of Computer Communication between Countries” fitted very well into its theme. This presentation also provided a theoretical background for the regular USA-Budapest data transfer at the Computer Information Society stand. Éva Szemereki's presentation on COM also coincided with the exhibition, where interested parties could view the microfiche of the computer-edited part of the conference proceedings prepared via COM using a microfilm reader. The mathematics section (chaired by Dr. Francois LO JACOMO, France) was dominated by Soviet presentations, but we also heard several interesting presentations from authors from the Federal Republic of Germany. All speakers in the linguistics section (chaired by Prof. Dr. Grigorij GEJTIN, Soviet Union) came from other countries, and their presentations covered a wide range of topics, from computer speech synthesis to automatic identification with personal data. The education section (chaired by Prof. Dr. Fabrizio PENNACCHIETTI, Italy) dealt with the teaching of computer-related knowledge and the inclusion of computers in the educational toolbox. The industrial applications section (chaired by Eng. Vladimir NEMEC, Czechoslovakia) discussed the application of computer technology in water management, construction, metal construction, etc. The microcomputer section (chaired by Jimmie OSBURN, Jordan) was very popular. The group gave an overview of the range of microcomputers available in the United States and Hungary, for example, and we heard a detailed description of the IDEALOS operating system, the replacement of accounting machines by microcomputers, etc. The agricultural section (chaired by Jan Otto de KAT, Netherlands) devoted a rather short time to presentations examining the application of computer technology in agriculture and the food industry, considering the importance of the topic. The medical section (chaired by Dr. Rudolf FISCHER, West Germany) dealt with the application of computer technology in healthcare, from computer-based drug design to computer-based prediction of susceptibility to certain diseases. The terminology section (chaired by Terry WATTS, Great Britain) discussed the computer applications of Esperanto - in a broad sense: from its use as a programming language to computer text translation and bibliographic retrieval systems. In the administration section (chaired by Dr. Jerzy LEYK, Poland), experts from four countries reported on, among other things, legal information retrieval systems, airline administration systems, management information and control systems, etc. After the section sessions, the symposium participants gathered again for a plenary session. I. UYGUR (Switzerland), Head of the Computer Engineering Department of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), who participated in INTERKOMPUTO '82 as a personal representative of the ITU Secretary-General and the General Coordinator of the World Year of Communications, gave a presentation. The symposium participants were welcomed by Ivajlo IVANCSEV, Secretary General of the Bulgarian Society of Electrical, Electronic, Telecommunications and Computer Engineering (the Bulgarian sister organization of the NJSZT). Then the section chairmen summarized the work in their sections. Finally, Dr. János Szelezsán, Deputy Secretary General of the NJSZT, evaluated the work of INTERKOMPUTO '82. The computer exhibition organized with the participation of more than 20 institutions provided a successful background for the symposium. The most interesting part of this was undoubtedly the regular connection from the terminal at the Computer Information Society stand to the computer of the University of Michigan (USA). A large crowd regularly surrounded the stand of BOSCOOP, the manufacturer of the AIRCOMP-16, the cheapest computer in the country. It was striking how many high school students were among those trying out the exhibited machines. VEIK! actively presented its software development and application results. A database was created on the ESZ 1040 machine, which contains the data of the conference participants (name, postal address, lecture title, time, place of the lecture, etc.). This database could be queried from the terminal at the exhibition, via a telephone line. As part of the COM service, the SZÜV created a microfiche of the part of the six-volume, more than a thousand-page conference publication that was edited with a computer - following the offer of VIDEOTON. Anyone could read the finished fiche on the microfiche reader set up at its stand, which was available for purchase in the bookstore operating during the symposium. Before the trip home, we asked many participants about their observations regarding the series of events. Among the unanimously positive opinions, we quote Terry WATTS (Great Britain): “I congratulate the organizer, the John von Neumann Computer Science Society, for both the professionally high-quality symposium and the other events that complemented it. What was particularly nice about the professional part of the event series was the division of the “audience” into human-sized sections of 30-50 people. This dissolved inhibitions and provided good ground for lively, substantive, truly international discussions. This is a worthy start to the World Year of Communications.