Dr. David P. Grove
IBM researcher David P. Grove is among four co-recipients of the 2007 Most Influential OOPSLA Paper Award. The award recognizes a paper presented ten years earlier that continues to influence research in the field of Object-Oriented Programming, Systems, Languages and Applications (OOPSLA).
Dr. Grove and his co-authors (see sidebar) received a shared $1,000 prize for Call Graph Construction in Object-Oriented Languages, which they presented at the OOPSLA annual conference in 1997.
The paper focused on the existing algorithms for call-graph construction in object-oriented languages, and on bringing them together into a unified framework. This framework is both theoretical, letting the authors compare the precision of the different algorithms, and also practical in that they could build a single parameterized implementation of all the algorithms.
This implementation also allowed the authors to conduct a thorough empirical evaluation of the algorithms, which had not been possible previously because the algorithms had been implemented separately and applied to different programs. In the process, Dr. Grove and his co-authors discovered and evaluated a few new variations suggested by their framework.
This kind of consolidation paper is important for moving the field forward because it provides theoretical models to build on and performance evaluations as benchmarks. It has served as a model for later work of this kind.
Most Influential OOPSLA Paper Award Selection Committee
The award given in year N is for the most influential paper presented at the conference held in year N-10. The selection committee consists of:
- Current SIGPLAN Chair
- General Chair and Program Chair for OOPSLA N-10
- General Chair and Program Chair for OOPSLA N-1
- Member of the SIGPLAN EC appointed by the OOPSLA Chair.