The CoFI Language Design Task Group was formed at the founding meeting of the Common Framework Initiative, in Oslo, September 1995. The working meetings held in Paris (November 1995), Munich (January 1996), Oxford (March 1996), and Paris (May 1996) resulted in various language design study notes, which helped to guide the subsequent design of the CoFI Algebraic Common Language, CASL.
All participants at the major Language Design Task Group meeting in Munich (July 1996) have contributed in one way or another to the tentative design of CASL; they were: Egidio Astesiano, Didier Bert, Jan Bergstra, Gilles Bernot, Michel Bidoit, Maura Cerioli, Christine Choppy, Radu Grosu, Anne Haxthausen, Bernd Krieg-Brückner (chairman), Peter D. Mosses, Fernando Orejas, Olaf Owe, Don Sannella, Andrzej Tarlecki, Michal Walicki, and Martin Wirsing.
This document has been developed by Peter D. Mosses, originally on the basis of the design proposals and notes made available before the Munich meeting and the agreements reached during the meeting. Its preparation was greatly assisted by the timely production of the minutes of the Munich meeting by Christine Choppy. Moreover, the Language Design Task Group participants who attended the Dagstuhl seminar (July 1996), namely Egidio Astesiano, Michel Bidoit, Maura Cerioli, Peter D. Mosses, Don Sannella, Andrzej Tarlecki, and Martin Wirsing, helped reach essential clarifications on several outstanding issues.
Subsequent versions of this document have attempted to incorporate the improvements suggested in various comments. Comments on versions 0.9 and 0.91 of this document were received from: Didier Bert, Maura Cerioli, Pietro Cenciarelli, Bernd Krieg-Brückner, Erik Saaman, and Andrzej Tarlecki. Comments on version 0.92 were received from: Anne Haxthausen, Bernd Krieg-Brückner, Till Mossakowski, Don Sannella, Andrzej Tarlecki, and Michal Walicki. Comments on version 0.93 were received from: Didier Bert, Michel Bidoit, Maura Cerioli, Christine Choppy, Chris George, Radu Grosu, Jim Horning, Bernd Krieg-Brückner, Till Mossakowski, Peter D. Mosses, Gianna Reggio, Don Sannella, Andrzej Tarlecki, Eelco Visser, and Michal Walicki. The proposed treatment of subsorts is based on a study note by Maura Cerioli, Till Mossakowski, Anne Haxthausen, Bernd Krieg-Brückner, Peter D. Mosses, and Olaf Owe. The proposed treatment of generic specifications is based on a study note by Michel Bidoit. The proposed treatment of architectural specifications is based on a study note by Peter D. Mosses. The comments have been sent to the mailing list subscribers, and are accessible in the mailing list archives.
A working meeting of the Language Design Task Group in Edinburgh (November 1996) helped to settle some remaining issues. The participants were: Egidio Astesiano, Hubert Baumeister, Michel Bidoit, Hélène Kirchner, Bernd Krieg-Brückner (chairman), Till Mossakowski, Peter D. Mosses, Don Sannella, Andrzej Tarlecki, and Michal Walicki. The participants at the Edinburgh meeting also decided to adopt the acronym CASL for the CoFI Algebraic Specification Language; it was originally proposed by Christine Choppy.
Final comments on the draft version of the present document were provided by: Michel Bidoit, Maura Cerioli, Hélène Kirchner, Bernd Krieg-Brückner, Till Mossakowski, Peter D. Mosses, Gianna Reggio, Don Sannella, Andrzej Tarlecki