Programming languages and security top academic discussions at Microsoft Academic Days

The event featured key speakers from Microsoft Research, Microsoft Corporation and from leading Universities across the region. Scientists and researchers from Microsoft's research labs and product groups, who are working on building the technologies of the future, shared their knowledge and project details with the region's top faculty members who are responsible for delivering learning opportunities computer science students across the Middle East.

Programming languages and security as a functional requirement when building software were the two highlights of the "Microsoft Academic Research Days", an annual event hosted by Microsoft in the Middle East and attended by the region's computer science professors and researchers. Microsoft Academic Research Days was hosted this year at the American University of Dubai on April 24-26.

Nasser Ghazi, .NET & Platforms Director, Microsoft Middle East and Africa for Microsoft told (newspaper) that more than 14,000 computer science students in the Middle East will benefit from these two days: "The level of interaction between researchers, professors and scientists was very high and extremely productive. One of the main things that became clear after these two days is that that computer science and software development curriculums need to be refreshed to reflect the new developments in software industry and the shape of market demand in the next few years."

Ghazi explains that to date, and in most universities across the world, information security is not being treated as a functional requirement in building software applications. This means, according to Ghazi, that students learning to develop software applications, coding and related services, learn how to build software applications that run smoothly and deliver the job. "Security as a functional requirement is a topic that students are exposed to at advanced stages in their education cycle. This needs to be changed and students need to think of security as a functional necessity when building an application."

According to Dr. Amjad Hudaib from Jordan University, with the Internet and telecommunication revolution, it is becoming increasingly easier to access information that is either private or not open for public access. 'Now', he said, "we need to protect our data and security of course is the main tool."

Dr. Hudaib said that students specializing in software development choose their graduation projects to be focused on security and they get exposed to security topics through various courses; however, this is not a course that is given to first year students due to its complexity."

Dr. Basie von Solms, Rand Afrikaans University agrees. He said: "Students learning how to write code, build applications and integrate software need to be aware that they will be liable for the security of their products as much as the functionality of their products once they start working in real life scenarios. Security needs to be looked at as a basic principle instead of an add-on. In this forum, we presented to professors some of the ways that can be used to build IS syllabus into courses at junior and senior classes. This helps making students aware that they should think of security from day one."

Exchange of information and services over the Internet and the ability of software developers to build highly portable applications was also the center of discussions at the forum. Walid Obeidat, system analyst from Abu Dhabi Educational Zone said: "The whole programming future will be built on what we've seen at the forum especially with the move to object oriented programming which really makes web-based communication faster, smarter and much more secure."

Dr. Hudaib from Jordan further explains: "C# is more likely to be the language of the future and it is important that students today are informed about this language to allow them to use it once they hit the job market. It is also going to be easy to migrate our current curriculums to C# given the wide availability of material and information on the language."

Ghazi explains that C# simplifies programming through the use of Extensible Markup Language (XML) and Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) and allows programmers to get new services to the market faster. He further explained that C# is ISO certified and ECMA industry standard. "Our commitment to open standards open up great opportunities for innovation and development. It frees developers and customers alike and for students in particular, it allows them to innovate regardless while ensuring that their products and services are based on accepted industry standards and are interoperable with the industry approved hardware and software. There are exciting technological developments taking place in research centers around the world and new trends in the way businesses use and interact with technology. Our aim is to ensure that our students and teachers are touched by these outbreaks, induced to innovate and are capable of building the software industry of the future in the region."