It was our great pleasure to extend a welcome to all who participated in SERA 2003, the ?rst world-classs International Conference on Software Engineering Research and Applications, which was held at Crowne Plaza Union Square Hotel, San Francisco, California, USA. The conference was sponsored by the International Association for Computer and Information Science (ACIS), in cooperation with the Software Engine- ing and Information Technology Institute at Central Michigan University. This conference was aimed at discussing the wide range of problems encountered in present and future high...

The object-oriented paradigm supplements traditional software engineering by providing solutions to common problems such as modularity and reusability. Objects can be written for a specific purpose acting as an encapsulated black-box API that can work with other components by forming a complex system. This book provides a comprehensive overview of the many facets of the object-oriented paradigm and how it applies to software engineering. Starting with an in-depth look at objects, the book naturally progresses through the software engineering life cycle and shows how object-oriented concepts...