Plenary Lecture
Programming Languages as Tools for Describing and Modeling Anticipatory
Systems

Professor Eugene Kindler
Faculty of Science
University of Ostrava
Street 30. dubna 22, CZ - 701 03 Ostrava
CZECH REPUBLIC
E-mail: ekindler@centrum.cz
Abstract: Nowadays, more and more complex systems are studied and
modeled. The complexity consists not only in enormous number of system
components but also of enormous number of the laws that the components
should respect in their structure, behavior and interactions. Among them,
the behavior of the human beings occurring in the systems is more and more
considered in exact studying of the systems. The individual laws of thinking
of such persons use general notions and have more or less common with the
external persons who think on such systems - e.g. during designing them.
Nowadays, the thinking of both the sorts of humans is transformed to
computing systems. That implies that the general notions should be
represented at the computing systems, among which the notions of “humans who
take notions in their means”. A special (but very frequent) case of human
thinking is anticipation – almost any person who figures in a system and can
influence it in more or less important sense, decides with view on possible
future consequences of his decision for himself and for the system. The main
way of that human thinking is rational imagining of the stepwise running
consequences. Transforming that to computing technique, one obtains
simulation. So one comes to simulation of systems that contain simulating
elements. Nevertheless, anticipation can cover also the anticipation of
other elements (masters, pupils, collaborators, competitors, antagonists
etc.) so that the “nesting” of computer models and of knowledge
representations can be iterated. The programming languages that are
object-oriented, process-oriented and block-oriented are suitable both for
describing such systems and notions that figure in them and the descriptions
can me then used as exact inputs for computer modeling and simulation.
Running computer models of local transport in production processes and in
container terminal will be presented.
Brief Biography of the Speaker:
Eugene Kindler was born in 1935, studied mathematics at Charles University
in Prague, (Czechoslovakia) and then computer science at the Research
Institute of Mathematical Machines in Prague. He is the author of the first
Czechoslovak ALGOL 60 compiler and the first Czechoslovak simulation
language and compiler (COSMO, Compartmental System Modeling). Charles
University granted him PhDr in logic and RNDr (Rerum Naturalium Doctor) in
the theory of programming, Czechoslovak Academy of Science granted him CSc
(Candidate of Sciences) in mathematics and physics. During 1958-1966 he
worked with the Research Institute of Mathematical Machines, then with the
Institute of Biophysics of the Faculty of General Medicine of Charles
University (until 1973) and then with the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics
of the same University (until 2006). In parallel, he engaged as professor of
applied mathematics at a new University of Ostrava (Czech Republic) and was
guest professor at the universities of Italian Pisa, American Morgantown and
French Clermont-Ferrand and Lorient. Since 2006 he has been pensioned,
collaborating with the same Ostrava University as external specialist in
various research projects, in doctoral studies and with a rather new Faculty
of art.
Beside his official work in computer science, he applied exact techniques
(applied in programming language analysis) to formulate the rhythmical laws
of music in free rhythm and is a director and soloist of singing group
Musica Poetica specialized to the chant originated during the first
millennium A.D. in Europe and certain Near East Asian countries.