Timothy Lethbridge

Umple 1.36.0 is released with AI capabilities, UmpleOnline layout and filtering options, more examples, instance generation (diagram or CRUD forms), dark mode, improvements to Python and C++ and more. See: github.com/umple/Umple/re…

The University of Ottawa is hiring four faculty members in computer science (all areas, including software engineering). Please see the official posting linked here: Deadline March 2. uottawa.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/uOttawa_…

@ICSEconf @moarbugs I take responsibility for leading the decision-making about this. It was done in discussion with others. I agree there is an argument for swallowing these within a general conference budget, even if some people unnecessarily 'check the box' and incur costs to the conference.

Reasons: 1) The letters are expensive legal documents that require manual production and checking from data that has to be validated; 2) We are merely passing on the cost we are charged; 3) To reduce costs, we need to deter people from asking for a letter 'just in case'; 4) We are waiving the fee for people where registration fee is sponsored (from Africa and elsewhere in the Global South); 5) The letter format is agreed with the Canadian Government and has a code in it to speed processing and reduce fraud; 6) We have documented fraud attempts; 7) This was discussed over a year ago with the IEEE-CS (This year's lead sponsor); 8) Many other steps in visa application are also expensive ... this is just one step; 9) EU, US, Canada are now charging ETA fees for everybody who doesn't need a visa ... so all forms of legal verification are being charged for.

I find it really sad that @ICSEconf is charging an extra fee for attendees needing a visa invitation letter! These folks are usually from countries where the financial burden of conferences is already sky high. Why can't the costs be folded into registration like everything else?

@Bell Give us back the Holiday Countdown games app that so many families look forward to each year on @Bell. We understand it has been cancelled. This may be the last straw that cause us to cancel Bell ... we used to get the kids downstairs away from their small devices to enjoy this.

Learn more here: bell.ca/Whats-on/Free-… Stay tuned for even more channels planned for 2025! 👀

More entertainment, now at your fingertips!📺 We’re expanding your TV experience with 11 new free, bonus TV channels included nationwide on the Bell TV app. These channels are seamlessly integrated into your TV guide, appearing in the 3000s section.

Congratulations to Reyhaneh Kalantari for completing her PhD: Adoption of Software Modeling Tools: Modeler Experience, Barriers and Benefits. It is now available for download along with anonymized data. site.uottawa.ca/~tcl/gradthese…

It is beyond absurd that Doug Ford's government is going to ban new bike lanes in Ontario unless he approves. I sometimes bike the 14km to work, and there is one short stretch without a proper lane. The Convervatives are generally misinformed, but this is just plain stupid.

The Industry Challenge Track at ICSE 2025 is seeking papers discussing insights, innovations, and solutions to software engineering challenges in practice See the full Call for Industry Solution Papers here: conf.researchr.org/track/icse-202… Submission Deadline: November 7, 2024, AOE

A fascinating article that has led me to new lines of thinking (and a measure of optimism) about AI and many other topics: The implausibility of intelligence explosion by François Chollet link.medium.com/p5SFp7TJ7Kb

Geoffrey Hinton says "There’s a 50-50 chance AI will get smarter than us [between 5 and 20 years]. When it gets smarter than us, I don’t know what the probability is that it will take over, but it seems to me quite likely.". I agree. Excellent interview: theglobeandmail.com/business/artic…

Umple 1.34.0 has been released: github.com/umple/umple/re… Key changes: Improvements to C++ code generation; editing of state diagrams (right- or double-click on states or transitions to display a menu), execution of generated Python in UmpleOnline; Generation of Json persistence.

#Ottawa scores as one of the best cities for walkability (not counting small cities) in the US/Canada (left in image) in the Economist's analysis. But is utterly outdone by European cities (right)! economist.com/interactive/20…

Neha Rungta from Amazon will be a keynote speaker at #icse2025 conf.researchr.org/info/icse-2025…

My dear sister Claire passed away two weeks ago. Her obituary has just been published. The funeral is May 25 in Bathurst, N.B. where she lived since we moved to Canada from @DenmeadArea in 1975 elhatton.com/en/obituaries/…

Canadian budget finally proposes proper funding for grad students and postdocs nature.com/articles/d4158…

Lionel Briand is presenting the keynote at the M02RE (1st Workshop on Multi-disciplinary, Open, and RElevant Requirements Engineering) @icseconf 2024 Lisbon. He talked about the fact that most organizations don't bother to create good requirements + ways to improve the situation.

Michel Chaudron, Rick Kazman, Mary Shaw, Liming Zhu, Marian Petre in a panel at the Designing workshop in @icseconf 2024, Lisbon

The ICSE 2025 logo was created by my teen Robin, a UOttawa student!

@Grady_Booch Let's flip this: How about claiming that AIs appear to understand often, but often are wrong. Ditto for humans! Do we have 'strong' evidence for what 'understanding' is? Maybe humans are biological next-gen LLMs with built-in instinctual self-delusion that we 'understand'

3 out of 6 forecast models predict snow early Sunday at @NakkertokNordic before @CourseENGNERace Nationals. Let's hope! I have volunteered to help early Sunday. The other 3 models say just rain (click on 'Compare' to see in this: windy.com/multimodel/45.… )

@lofidewanto @JordiCabot I don't mind a paywall (I subscribe to 8 online resources) ... just not 10,000. Paywalls need to be federated (and not under the control of a giant company nor a few of them). We need to be able to browse freely, paying small amounts as we go anywhere.

@JordiCabot Not good, all will be absorbed by OpenAI GPT model. There must be a new business model possible. 1990: Writing for magazines for cash. 2010: Blogging with ads for some income. 2030: Articles behind paywalls, no AI.

Over the past 12 months, my two #blogs (modeling-languages.com and ingenieriadesoftware.es) have lost 50% of their #traffic 📉📉📉 I blame #chatgpt linkedin.com/feed/update/ur…