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The article presents information on the 1970 Fall Joint Computer Conference that will be held in Houston, Texas, on November 17-19. The conference will have a truly Texas-sized setting, the Astrohall, the world's largest convention and exhibit structure. The technical program may also appear to be Texas-sized in view of its size and diversity. However, it is not so much the program that has grown as the computer industry. The program has therefore been expanded to reflect new developments in computer usage and technology while maintaining its emphasis on various subjects of continuing importance. One of the chief areas of interest is computer software, its present problems and future promises. Two sessions will be devoted on it. Session 21, chaired by M.A. Melkanoff, University of California at Los Angeles, is devoted to the three principal and self-excluding approaches to long-range programming language development being advocated today. A distinguished panel will present a position paper on each of the three approaches and a fourth position paper on relevant research problems.

This article presents information on the technical meetings and workshops held by a number of Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Special Interest Groups and Committees during the Fall 1970 Joint Computer Conference in Houston, Texas. Among the more ambitious ACM-related events held in Houston was an evening panel session on Social Implications of Computer Technology. Sponsorship support came jointly from the ACM Special Interest Committee on Computers and Society, the Social Implications Committee of the IEEE Computer Group, and the AFIPS Social Implications Committee. The high caliber of the panelists was matched by that of the discussion which took place during the session. Shortly before the ACM Council authorized its conversion into a Group, the Special Interest Committee on File Description and Translation brought together representatives from commerce, industry, government and universities, meeting to exchange technical information on data description and access. Papers and discussions alike reflected interests going from the theoretical to the practical, and efforts ranging from individual projects to large committee undertakings.

This article presents information on the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Council meeting held in Houston, Texas on November 19-20, 1970. Special reports were presented by the Finance Committee, the Membership Committee, the Ad Hoc Committee on the Squire Case, and the Professional Standards and Practices Committee. The Treasury reported that, due primarily to the loss on ACM 70 and the fall-off of advertising revenue, the surplus for FY 71 was off by $43,000 as of October 31. Executive Director Smith presented a plan for managing the ACM Mailing List, which will allow members to indicate material they wish to receive from the Association. A motion adopting the plan was passed. A motion was passed to incorporate a description of the responsibilities of Council Liaison to Committees into the Policies and Procedures Guidelines. The motion passed unanimously. The Special Interest Committee on Computers and Society was granted an extension until May 1971, and the Council reaffirmed its continuing support of interest in this subject area.