John K. Ousterhout : 2009 Plenary Meeting

Fiz is a new open-source framework for Web applications. Its overall goal is to raise the level of programming for Web applications, first by providing a set of high-level reusable components that simplify the task of creating interactive Web applications, and second by providing a framework that encourages other people to create additional components. The Fiz components cover both the front end of Web applications (managing browser-based user interfaces) and the back end (managing data sources and business rules). This talk will describe the Fiz architecture, give some examples of components, and discuss some of the problems that must be resolved to facilitate the creation and use of components.

John Ousterhout is Professor (Research) of Computer Science at Stanford University. His current research focuses around Web application development. Ousterhout's prior positions include 14 years in industry where he founded two companies (Scriptics and Electric Cloud), preceded by 14 years as Professor of Computer Science at U.C. Berkeley. He is the creator of the Tcl scripting language and is also well known for his work in distributed operating systems and file systems. Ousterhout received a BS degree in Physics from Yale University and a PhD in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and has received numerous awards, including the ACM Software System Award, the ACM Grace Murray Hopper Award, the National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator Award, and the U.C. Berkeley Distinguished Teaching Award.