| Objective |
Contractor positions
involving designing and developing practical and
integrated solutions in the field of Symbolic Processing,
[OO]Database and Graphics, exclusively in Unix based
environments. I consider myself as an expert in Lisp and
Lisp's dialects. Depending on duration of potential
projects (and other staff domains of expertise), positions
can involve low-level programming, multiprocess and
process communication techniques.
|
| Career Plan |
| 1983-1987 |
University of Liège
Applied Science Faculty - Computer Science Degree |
| Oct87-Apr88 |
Control Data Belgium
Database Research & Development Centre |
| Mai88-Sep89 |
University of Liège
Research Assistant |
| Oct89-Dec91 |
Space Applications Services
Future Technology Group (working for ESA) |
| Jan92-May93 |
Harlequin Ltd [UK]
Symbolic Processing Division, Language Implementation Group |
| Jun93-Aug93 |
Setanta Software [UK], Consultant
Design and implementation of a database Test-Suite |
| Sep94-Mar98 |
University of Liège, Consultant
Symbolic Processing and Graphics Applied Research |
| Apr98-Now |
Alto Software, [Managing Director] Consultant
Symbolic Processing, Database and Graphics Applied
Research: development of a modern Graphic Planning Tool |
|
Professional Background |
Consultancy
Experience
|
| University Of Liège |
Sep94 - Now |
Applied Research
projects, research assistant: projects design,
management and implementation at LEMA:
Laboratoire d'Etudes Methodologiques
Architecturales, service du Professeur Dupagne.
Multiple Lisp systems involved, in an
hetererogeneous UNIX (AIX, SunOS, HP, DEC) and
Mac environment.
| Setanta Software |
Jun 93 - Aug 93 |
Design and
implementation of a database Test-Suite for a
proprietary database kernel. The Test-Suite,
implemented in C, represented several thousand
lines of code, in a Unix environment (Sun OS
4.1.2).
| Harlequin Ltd, Cambridge, England |
Jan 92 - May 93 |
Design and
implementation of a Persistent Common Lisp Object
System, project manager. As a layered extension
to the Common Lisp Object System (CLOS), the
design of the system is such that it allows
connection to both Object Oriented and Relational
database. It is a generic interface. A prototype
has been implemented using ORACLE
v6.0.1.36[v§7].
|
|
Symbolic
Processing |
| Design and impl. of a Persistent Common Lisp Object
System |
Harlequin Ltd |
Responsible for the
project which consisted of designing and
implementing an extension to the Common Lisp
Object System (CLOS). Further to the description
given under the Consultancy item: the Data
Definition Language (DDL) and the Data
Manipulation Language (DML) had to be provided
following a layered approach. The main objective
was to provide such a layer so that the learning
curve for Lispers would be minimum, and the
integration with the Common Lisp Object System
would be maximum. The implementation was based
upon CLOS and the Meta Object Protocol (MOP), a
(non standardised) reflexive system available in
some commercial Lisp implementations.
| Hermes Flight Operation Setup |
SAS, Brussels, Belgium, Oct89 - Dec 90 |
As the team leader,
responsible for requirements analysis,
specification, knowledge acquisition and
implementation of a Hermes Flight Operations
expert system. A prototype was implemented and
validated against Hermes Operations when
servicing the Columbus Free Flying
Laboratory. The team was composed of two members:
an operation engineer and a software
engineer. The development has been achieved using
GoldWorks II, a Lisp based expert system shell.
| SEREBA |
University of Liège, Belgium, 88 |
Système Expert pour
la REprésentation des BAtisses en zone
urbaine. Symbolic Processing applied research.
Responsible for creating and leading a team of
three members, the aim of which was to apply
state of the art Symbolic Processing techniques
to architectural problems. Studying the
feasibility of providing a knowledge based system
applied urban regulations management. Design and
implementation of a prototype which, based on
available data (i.e. the position of the land)
and urban regulations, indicates parameters used
by architects to design their buildings.
|
|
Database &
Object Oriented Database |
| SQL/Lisp interfaces |
Harlequin Ltd |
Responsible for the
maintenance and the enhancement of Lisp SQL
interfaces with ORACLE, INGRES and INFORMIX. The
task also involved bringing existing interface
closer to the 1992 standard for SQL (notably in
preparation for ORACLE v7). This project required
a strong knowledge of the C Oracle Call
Interface, embedded SQL and dynamic query
techniques and implementation.
| Database administrator and corporate database
design |
Harlequin Ltd |
Oracle database
administrator (v5 and v6.0.1.36[v§7]). The system
was used by ±15 developers on several database
for different projects. This was in a
heterogeneous UNIX network environment.
Responsible for requirements analysis and
architectural design. Recommending a solution
using in house technology and/or existing
products. Areas covered included customer support
and logging, marketing activities, source code
and version control. Access to this corporate
database was to be provided in concurrent mode,
from offices in USA and in the UK.
| Hermes Flight Operation Setup |
SAS, Brussels, Belgium, Jan 91-Dec 91 |
Within the context
of European Space Agency's Hermes Program Support
Contract (PSC). Responsible for the development
of a detailed method representing operations
rules and constraints of the Hermes
System. Implementing a prototype using the method
and appropriate state of the art tools and
techniques. The development of the method was
based upon advanced space operations concept
publications. The implementation part mainly used
object oriented database and programming
techniques.
| Information Management Facility |
Control Data, Brussels, Belg., Oct 87 - Apr 88 |
As a member of the
research and development department of Control
Data Belgium, working on the design and the
development of the IMF DBMS (Information
Management Facility, a CDC proprietary DBMS) for
their NOS/VE operating system. More specifically,
taking part into the design and the
implementation of the access and storage
subsystems. The project was developed on a Cyber
930 (a CDC departmental Computer, running
NOS/VE), using CYBIL. Cybil is the NOS/VE
operating system language and is very similar to
C, but provided a much better compile time type
checking system. The team was headed by a senior
database specialist (20 years database design and
implementation experience) and was composed of 4
members.
| Faculty database |
University of Liège, Belgium, 87 |
Requirements
analysis, architectural design and implementation
of a large database for the faculty. Development
environment: IBM 4381 under VM/SP, SQL/DS, host
language PL/1.
|
|
| Simulation |
| SQL simulator |
Harlequin Ltd |
Responsible for the
maintenance and the enhancement of Harlequin's
SQL simulator. Entirely programmed in Lisp, the
simulator was used for prototyping products
requiring an SQL server. The interface to the
simulator was 100% portable to real database
servers, independently from vendors (ORACLE,
INGRES and INFORMIX).
|
|
| Graphical User Interface |
The aim of this
project was to provide an advanced graphical and
natural language based tool for accessing
database. Responsible for the design of the
reporting tool.
| SEREBA |
University of Liège, Belgium, 88 |
Système Expert pour
la REprésentation des BAtisses en zone
urbaine. Design and implementation (in C) of a
dynamic 3D graphic interface, in order to
visualise the expert system results. This was
achieved on a SUN workstation, under SUNOS 3.5
and X11R3. Design and implementation of the Lisp
to C interface for this project.
|
|
| Technical Skills |
| Computer Languages |
My areas of expertise are
Database, Object Oriented Database and Symbolic
Processing systems, languages and applications. I am
fluent in SQL. I have used the following database
systems: ORACLE, INGRES, INFORMIX, SQL/DS, UniSQL/X,
ITASCA, IMF and STATICE and recently Object Store
(Allegro Store, the Franz Inc. Allegro Common Lisp
Database interface to Object Store (from Object Design
Inc.)).
I have an in depth knowledge of ORACLE v5 and v6.1.36
(v§7). In addition to SQL, this knowledge includes the C
Oracle Call Interface, embedded SQL and dynamic query
techniques and implementation. I have a good knowledge of
INFORMIX and INGRES C system calls (although they are not
documented) used for embedded SQL and dynamic
queries.
I acted as an ORACLE DBA while at Harlequin. It was
used by ±15 developers on several databases for different
projects. This was in a heterogeneous UNIX network
environment.
I have a strong background in Common Lisp (CL), the
Common Lisp Object System (CLOS) and the Meta Object
Protocol (MOP, the Lisp reflexive mechanism). I have
designed and implemented an object oriented database
definition and query language for Lisp systems. I have
implemented a prototype of this language using ORACLE
v6.1.36 (v§7).
I have a strong knowledge of C and can program in
Pascal, Fortran and Assembly languages. |
|
| Computer Platforms | DEC (DEC 20), IBM 4381, Cyber 930
(CDC), UNIX workstations (RS/6000, SUNs, HPs, DECs, Apple
Macintosh and PCs). |
|
| Operating Systems |
AIX, Solaris, HP-UX, Linux, VM/SP, NOS/VE, MacOS, ... |
|
| Training | I regularly attend conferences
and University (post-graduated) courses so as to maintain
and/or improve my knowledge. I regularly purchase books
and I subscribe to a number of computer science journals
(ACM, ACM Transaction on Database Systems, IEEE Computer,
IEEExpert, BYTE, ...).
|
|
|
| Full Identity |
David Pirotte (38 years old, belgian)
Cell: +32 -(0) 476 340 841
email: david@altosw.be |
|
|
Spoken Languages |
French mother tongue, fluent in
English, I also understand and speak basic
portugeese. |
