Dr Troy Astarte

Lecturer

Computer Science

+44 (0) 1792 602813

t.k.astarte@swansea.ac.uk

Office - 407
Fourth Floor
Computational Foundry
Bay Campus

Available For Postgraduate Supervision

Research Links

ResearcherID

About

Dr Troy Kaighin Astarte joined Swansea as a lecturer (enhanced teaching focus) in October 2021. Troy’s research lies mainly in two areas to date: history of computer science, and formal aspects of computing. Pedagogy of computer science is a growing interest area. They are programme director for the new BSc Digital Technology which welcomes students in September 2024.

In May 2024 Troy took the role of Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Annals of the History of Computing.

Troy is a member of the ACM History Committee, the IEEE Computer Society History Committee, and the Newcastle University Historic Computing Committee. They are keen to open up Swansea’s History of Computing Collection for object-centred research and teaching. Troy is a member of the PROGRAMme interdisciplinary research group which takes a historical, philosophical, and technical look at the question “What is a program?”

As an agender person (pronouns: they/them) Troy appreciates gender-neutral terms of address. They like to be called ‘Troy’ or if more formality is needed, ‘Dr. Troy’. Please, not ‘professor’ or ‘sir’.

Areas Of Expertise

History of computing
History of computer science
History of data
Technology and society
Oral history
Formal semantics
Programming languages
Concurrency modelling

Career Highlights

Teaching Interests

Programme Director:

BSc Digital Technology

Currently teaching:

CS-115: Programming 2
CS-119: Digital Devices

Has taught:

CSC306(B): Writing Mobile Apps
CSC3321: Understanding Programming Languages (Newcastle University)

Looking to supervise projects in the areas of expertise mentioned above.

Research Award Highlights Collaborations

Publications

Research Highlights

Astarte, T. (n.d.) Tense & temporality: Computing and the logic of time. In Arianna Borrelli, Helena Durnová (Ed.),meson press
SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa65273
Astarte, T., Moller, F., Quille, K., & Russell, S. (2023). UKICER '23: Proceedings of the 2023 Conference on United Kingdom & Ireland Computing Education Research. In Troy Astarte, Faron Moller, Keith Quille, Seán Russell (Ed.), UKICER: UK & Ireland Computing Education ResearchACM.
https://doi.org/10.1145/3610969, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa64645
http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/3610969
Astarte, T. (2024). From Monitors to Monitors: A Primitive History. Minds and Machines, 34(S1), 51-71.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11023-023-09632-2, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa63086
Astarte, T. (2022). “Diﬃcult things are diﬃcult to describe”: The role of formal semantics in European computer science, 1960–1980. In Abbate, Janet and Dick, Stephanie (Ed.), Abstractions and Embodiments: New Histories of Computing and Society Johns Hopkins University Press
SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa59428
https://www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/12637/abstractions-and-embodiments
Sekerinski, E., Moreira, N., Oliveira, J., Ratiu, D., Guidotti, R., Farrell, M., Luckcuck, M., Marmsoler, D., Campos, J., Astarte, T., Gonnord, L., Cerone, A., Couto, L., Dongol, B., Kutrib, M., Monteiro, P., & Delmas, D. (2020). Formal Methods. FM 2019 International Workshops: Porto, Portugal, October 7–11, 2019, Revised Selected Papers, Part II Springer International Publishing.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-54997-8, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa59377
Astarte, T. (2019). Formalising Meaning: a History of Programming Language Semantics
SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa59379
http://homepages.cs.ncl.ac.uk/troy.astarte/res/pdf/TK_Astarte_Formalising_Meaning_2019.pdf
Astarte, T. & Jones, C. (2019). Formal Semantics of ALGOL 60: Four Descriptions in their Historical Context. Philosophical Studies Series (pp. 83-152). Springer International Publishing
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97226-8_4, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa59375
Jones, C. & Astarte, T. (2018). Challenges for Formal Semantic Description: Responses from the Main Approaches. In Engineering Trustworthy Software Systems (pp. 176-217). Springer International Publishing.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02928-9_6, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa59374

All Research

Journal Articles

Astarte, T. (2024). From Monitors to Monitors: A Primitive History. Minds and Machines, 34(S1), 51-71.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11023-023-09632-2, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa63086

Authored Books

Sekerinski, E., Moreira, N., Oliveira, J., Ratiu, D., Guidotti, R., Farrell, M., Luckcuck, M., Marmsoler, D., Campos, J., Astarte, T., Gonnord, L., Cerone, A., Couto, L., Dongol, B., Kutrib, M., Monteiro, P., & Delmas, D. (2020). Formal Methods. FM 2019 International Workshops: Porto, Portugal, October 7–11, 2019, Revised Selected Papers, Part II Springer International Publishing.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-54997-8, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa59377

Book Chapters

Astarte, T. (2022). “Diﬃcult things are diﬃcult to describe”: The role of formal semantics in European computer science, 1960–1980. In Abbate, Janet and Dick, Stephanie (Ed.), Abstractions and Embodiments: New Histories of Computing and Society Johns Hopkins University Press
SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa59428
https://www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/12637/abstractions-and-embodiments
Astarte, T. & Jones, C. (2019). Formal Semantics of ALGOL 60: Four Descriptions in their Historical Context. Philosophical Studies Series (pp. 83-152). Springer International Publishing
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97226-8_4, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa59375
Astarte, T. (n.d.) Tense & temporality: Computing and the logic of time. In Arianna Borrelli, Helena Durnová (Ed.),meson press
SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa65273

Conference Contributions

Astarte, T., Moller, F., Quille, K., & Russell, S. (2023). UKICER '23: Proceedings of the 2023 Conference on United Kingdom & Ireland Computing Education Research. In Troy Astarte, Faron Moller, Keith Quille, Seán Russell (Ed.), UKICER: UK & Ireland Computing Education ResearchACM.
https://doi.org/10.1145/3610969, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa64645
http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/3610969
Jones, C. & Astarte, T. (2018). Challenges for Formal Semantic Description: Responses from the Main Approaches. In Engineering Trustworthy Software Systems (pp. 176-217). Springer International Publishing.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02928-9_6, SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa59374

Other Research Outputs

Astarte, T. (2019). Formalising Meaning: a History of Programming Language Semantics
SU Repository: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa59379
http://homepages.cs.ncl.ac.uk/troy.astarte/res/pdf/TK_Astarte_Formalising_Meaning_2019.pdf

Supervision

From Pitches to Pixels: The Datafication of European Football (current)

PhD

Other supervisor: Prof John Tucker
Technolegau Drawsryweddol: Exploring transgender digital inequality in Wales (current)

PhD

Other supervisor: Dr Charlotte Jones

Taught Modules

CS-115 Programming 2

This module is a continuation of the module CS-110 Programming 1. In it, students will continue to enhance their skills in programming, as well as gain a basic understanding of algorithms and data structures.
CS-119 Digital Devices

The world is increasingly digital, and digital devices control many aspects of our lives. These range from the obvious computers sitting on our desks to the hidden chips embedded inside our domestic products and bodies . Understanding how digital devices function may no longer be crucial to using them, but to properly engage with creating and adapting digital devices requires an understanding of the process by which devices become digital. Devices are not born digital : rather, extant systems and constructs become digitised. This module explores this process through a series of case studies, some obvious, and some less so. Students will learn the basic engineering and physical concepts underlying devices and explore a series of devices through a process of conceptual tear-down. Tools and techniques from science and technology studies will engage students with the pressures that drive the design decisions underpinning digital devices¿both technical and non-technical. Students will discover that people shape devices as much as devices shape people, and often in unexpected ways. The module equips students to better understand the devices that exist today and those that will exist in the future. It gives students the tools they need to make informed design choices when creating or adapting digital devices of their own.

Key Grants and Projects

Separation & Interference: Learning from the History of Concurrency 2019

Leverhulme Trust, with Cliff Jones (Newcastle)

Other Roles

Editor in Chief, IEEE Annals of the History of Computing

2024 - 2026

Career History

Lecturer (enhanced teaching), Swansea University

October 2021 - Present

Public Engagements

Troy is committed to engaging the public with the history of computing. They organised the Celebrating 50 Years of Campus-Wide Computing event inaugurating a new display of exhibits at Newcastle University in 2019.

Dr Troy Astarte

Telephone number

Email address

LinkedIn Account

Research Links

About

Areas Of Expertise

Career Highlights

Research Highlights

All Research

From Pitches to Pixels: The Datafication of European Football (current)

Technolegau Drawsryweddol: Exploring transgender digital inequality in Wales (current)

CS-115 Programming 2

CS-119 Digital Devices

Separation & Interference: Learning from the History of Concurrency 2019

Editor in Chief, IEEE Annals of the History of Computing

Lecturer (enhanced teaching), Swansea University