Proceedings of the 16th ACM SIGSOFT International Symposium on Foundations of software engineering

Abstract

Welcome to SIGSOFT 2008 and the Sixteenth ACM SIGSOFT International Symposium on the Foundations of Software Engineering (FSE-16). SIGSOFT 2008 provides many different opportunities for software engineering researchers and practitioners to interact. Four workshops, ranging in topics from specification and verification to collaborative development tools, provide an opportunity for in-depth discussion of particular areas. A doctoral symposium and a student research forum allow for lively exchange between experienced researchers and student participants. A symposium for new faculty and new researchers allows for sharing of experiences and the opportunity for those new to the field to gain advice from more experienced researchers. A symposium dedicated to software engineering educators aims to improve the recruitment, education and retention of students in software engineering. Also co-located with SIGOSFT 2008 is the 8th ACM SIGPLAN-SIGSOFT Workshop on Program Analysis for Software Tools and Engineering (PASTE), which provides an opportunity to explore how program analysis can help improve and extend the software tools available to developers. The main event at SIGSOFT 2008 is FSE, a leading conference for research in software engineering theory and practice. This year, FSE received 152 submissions from the global software engineering community. Each paper was reviewed by at least three members of the high-qualified technical program committee. The program committee met for one-and-a-half days to discuss the submissions in detail. Based on this discussion, the program committee selected 31 papers for presentation at the conference and publication in the conference proceedings. In addition to these papers, the conference proceedings contains abstracts from the keynote speakers and the SIGSOFT award winners that we are thrilled to have as part of the FSE-16 program.