HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Gerardus Maria "Sjir" Nijssen (born 18 October 1938,
Schinnen Schinnen (; ) is a village and a former Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the province of Limburg (Netherlands), Limburg, the Netherlands. It was home to United States Army, US Army Garrison Schinnen, a support base for People fr ...
) is a Dutch
computer scientist A computer scientist is a scientist who specializes in the academic study of computer science. Computer scientists typically work on the theoretical side of computation. Although computer scientists can also focus their work and research on ...
, former professor of computer science at the
University of Queensland The University of Queensland is a Public university, public research university located primarily in Brisbane, the capital city of the Australian state of Queensland. Founded in 1909 by the Queensland parliament, UQ is one of the six sandstone ...
,''Australian Computer Journal,'' Vol. 19-20, 1987, p. 75. consultant, and author. Nijssen is considered the founder of verbalization in computer science, and one of the founders of business modeling and information analysis based on
natural language A natural language or ordinary language is a language that occurs naturally in a human community by a process of use, repetition, and change. It can take different forms, typically either a spoken language or a sign language. Natural languages ...
.Prof. dr. ir. G.M. Nijssen
PNA Group 2009, at ''archive.org'', 2017. (Originally retrieved July 17, 2009).


Biography

Nijssen finished his study at the
Eindhoven University of Technology The Eindhoven University of Technology (), Abbreviation, abbr. TU/e, is a public university, public technical university in the Netherlands, situated in Eindhoven. In 2020–21, around 14,000 students were enrolled in its Bachelor of Science, BS ...
in 1965, and started working at
Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), simply branded Philips, is a Dutch multinational health technology company that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, its world headquarters have been situated in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarter ...
at the department of Commercial Efficiency Research. From 1968 to 1970 he has been director of the educational institute "The Dutch Centre for Business and IT". In 1970 he moved to the
Control Data Corporation Control Data Corporation (CDC) was a mainframe and supercomputer company that in the 1960s was one of the nine major U.S. computer companies, which group included IBM, the Burroughs Corporation, and the Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), the N ...
, a pioneer in the field of
computer science Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...
with the European headquarters in Brussels in Belgium. In those years he started fact-based modeling and developed NIAM. During this time, he was also associated with several academic institutions and international standards organizations. In 1974 he was co-founder of the IFIP WG 2.6 Database Experts group, where he served as its first chairman until 1983. He was also a member of IFIP WG 8.1 on Information Systems and a member of ISO TC97/SC5/WG3 working group on Conceptual Schemas. During the period of 1982 to 1989 Nijssen was a full-time professor of Computer science at the
University of Queensland The University of Queensland is a Public university, public research university located primarily in Brisbane, the capital city of the Australian state of Queensland. Founded in 1909 by the Queensland parliament, UQ is one of the six sandstone ...
in Brisbane, Australia, where he worked together with
Terry Halpin Terence Aidan (Terry) Halpin (born 1950s) is an Australian computer scientist who is known for his formalization of the object–role modeling notation. Biography Born in Australia, Halpin studied at the University of Queensland starting in ...
amongst others in further developing NIAM. When returning to the Netherlands in 1989, he founded PNA Group, which stands for Professor Nijssen Associates, and accepted a position at the
University of Maastricht A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...
, Netherlands. In 2002 Nijssen retired as CEO at PNA Group. He remained active as member of the OMG SBVR 1.1 Revision Task Force (RTF), the OMG BPMN Revision Task Force (RTF), the OMG Architecture Ecosystem Special Interest Group (AE SIG) and the Fact Based Modeling Task Force.


Work

Nijssen's research interests in the field of computer science have developed over the years. In the 1970s he was focussed on information systems and database technology.


NIAM

At Control Data early 1970s Nijssen started with fact-based modeling and developed NIAM, a fact based business practice and notation. The acronym NIAM originally stood for "Nijssen's Information Analysis Methodology", and later generalised to "Natural language Information Analysis Methodology" and ''Binary Relationship Modeling'' since G. M. Nijssen was only one of many people involved in the development of the method.


''Conceptual schema and relational database design,'' 1989

In 1989 Nijssen and
Terry Halpin Terence Aidan (Terry) Halpin (born 1950s) is an Australian computer scientist who is known for his formalization of the object–role modeling notation. Biography Born in Australia, Halpin studied at the University of Queensland starting in ...
published 'the book ''Conceptual schema and relational database design: a fact oriented approach.'' The introduction it declared the background of this work: :"Prof. G. M. Nijssen, the originator of NIAM design method, had for a long time given a higher priority to working on new aspects of the method and advancing it, than to writing a textbook about it; but at last, here it is. The NIAM method was initiated in the early 1970s, at a time when most researchers in the data base and information system field still were discussing
data modeling Data modeling in software engineering is the process of creating a data model for an information system by applying certain formal techniques. It may be applied as part of broader Model-driven engineering (MDE) concept. Overview Data modeli ...
on the level of record structures. Only a few acknowledged the need for semantic data modeling. Among these few was Prof. Nijssen, who realized its enormous potential for the practice of data base and information system development..." The introduction further explained, that NIAM was further developed in cooperation with several other scientists, such as with E.D. Falkenberg. Nijssen and Halpin stipulated: :"... the numerous fruitful discussions which ... with Prof. E.D. Falkenberg, while he was at the University of Stuttgart, Siemens Research center and at the University of Queensland. Some of these discussions were enjoyed in "high places", such as the Rigi and Saas Fee, in Switzerland. Various ideas contained in the NIAM design method were originated by Prof. Falkenberg, for example, the basic set of concepts and some aspects of the design procedure, including an algorithm for designing subtypes."Nijssen and Halpin (1989, xiii) Nijssen and Halpin further explain: :"While the "great debate" in 1974 between proponents of the
CODASYL CODASYL, the Conference/Committee on Data Systems Languages, was a consortium formed in 1959 to guide the development of a standard programming language that could be used on many computers. This effort led to the development of the programming ...
Network Model ( C. W. Bachman) and of the
Relational Model The relational model (RM) is an approach to managing data using a structure and language consistent with first-order predicate logic, first described in 1969 by English computer scientist Edgar F. Codd, where all data are represented in terms of t ...
(Dr
E. F. Codd Edgar Frank "Ted" Codd (19 August 1923 – 18 April 2003) was a British computer scientist who, while working for IBM, invented the relational model for database management, the theoretical basis for relational databases and relational database ...
) was the focus of attention in database research world, it was Prof. Falkenberg who said that: ''The debate is irrelevant for semantic data modeling.'' Now, years later, the debate on
semantic data modeling A semantic data model (SDM) is a high-level semantics-based database description and structuring formalism (database model) for databases. This database model is designed to capture more of the meaning of an application environment than is possi ...
is indeed concerned with issues quite different from those emphasised in the conventional
data model A data model is an abstract model that organizes elements of data and standardizes how they relate to one another and to the properties of real-world entities. For instance, a data model may specify that the data element representing a car be ...
s."


CogNIAM

Back in the Netherlands in the 1990s Nijssen developed
Cognition enhanced Natural language Information Analysis Method Cognition enhanced Natural language Information Analysis Method (CogNIAM) is a conceptual fact-based modelling method, that aims to integrate the different dimensions of knowledge: data, rules, processes and semantics. To represent these dimension ...
(CogNIAM). Hereby he focused entirely on the most productive protocol for the development of business requirements and integrated business modeling.


Publications

Nijssen published more than 50 articles and 7 books.G.M. Nijssen List of publications
from the DBLP Bibliography Server.
* Nijssen, G. M. (ed.) ''Modelling in Data Base Management Systems: Proceedings of the IFIP Working Conference on Modelling in Data Base Management Systems''. Elsevier/North-Holland. 1978. * Bracchi, Giampio, and Gerardus Maria Nijssen, eds. Data Base Architecture: Proceedings of the IFIP Working Conference on Data Base Architecture, Venice, Italy, 26–29 June 1979. North-Holland, 1979. * Nijssen, Gerardus Maria, and
Terence Aidan Halpin Terence Aidan (Terry) Halpin (born 1950s) is an Australian computer scientist who is known for his formalization of the object–role modeling notation. Biography Born in Australia, Halpin studied at the University of Queensland starting in ...
. ''Conceptual Schema and Relational Database Design: a fact oriented approach.'' Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1989. ;Articles, a selection * Nijssen, G. M. "A Gross Architecture for the Next Generation Database Management System." ''IFIP Working Conference on Modelling in Data Base Management Systems.'' 1976. * Nijssen, G. M. "Current issues in conceptual schema concepts." ''Architecture and Models in Data Base Management Systems'' (1977): 31-66. * Leung, C. M. R., and G. M. Nijssen. "Relational database design using the NIAM conceptual schema." ''Information Systems'' 13.2 (1988): 219-227. * Nijssen, G. M. "An axiom and architecture for information systems." in: E.D. Falkenberg and P. Lindgren (eds.) ''Information Systems Concepts: an in-depth analysis,'' North-Holland (1989).


References


External links


Weblog Sjir Nijssen
Sjir Nijssen's personal webpage including his weblog. {{DEFAULTSORT:Nijssen, G. M. 1938 births Living people Dutch computer scientists Information systems researchers Dutch software engineers Software engineering researchers Eindhoven University of Technology alumni Academic staff of the University of Queensland Dutch expatriates in Australia People from Schinnen