Proceedings 25th International Conference on Software Engineering

Welcome to ICSE 2002, the Twenty-Fourth International Conference on Software Engineering!This year, besides the 3 keynotes, 48 papers, 3 panels, 9 industry papers, 2 invited industry presentations, 2 state-of-the-art talks, 3 impact talks, 8 posters, and 3 informal demonstrations in the main ICSE conference, we have 16 tutorials, 14 workshops, 2 symposia and 1 co-located event. These proceedings represent a snapshot in history on the state of the art and state of the practice of software engineering.While the road to ICSE was complicated by events taking place around the world, the unfortunate need to relocate does not detract from the outstanding opportunity we all have to share ideas and experiences and to foster new relationships with members of our profession.It Takes 2 to TangoWhile all software engineers may be accused of dancing to the beat of different drummers, one could speculate which dance partner they might want to select: • industrial applied software engineers and academic researchers in software engineering? • software engineers and systems engineers? • software engineers and information technologists? • software engineers and computer scientists?The point I am trying to make is that this year's ICSE brings together all of the above combinations and facilitates a synergistic environment for all attendees.Research is a community endeavor. ICSE is the premier generalist conference in software engineering research, encompassing all major subfields of software engineering. It plays a vital role in maintaining and developing the research community through exchange of ideas, development of a research agenda and setting standards for quality research.303 full research papers were submitted to ICSE 2002, of which 45 (less than 15reviewing and selectivity make publication in ICSE an honor for authors of selected papers, and ensures attendees and readers a selection of the best current research in software engineering.A program committee of experts drawn from around the world and across the spectrum of software engineering research were responsible for selecting a program of high quality technical papers and providing constructive criticism to authors of all submissions, whether selected or not. ICSE program committee members commit to a very heavy load of reviewing, made heavier this year by a review period that was shortened when we postponed the paper submission deadline by a week due to the tragic events of September 11. Each submitted paper was reviewed by three or more members of the program committee. The final selection was made in a lively two day, face-to-face meeting of the full committee. We are grateful to the ICSE 2002 program committee for magnificent work under difficult conditions, and we are proud of the result they have achieved.