The aim of software engineering is to find methods for developing high quality software products at a reasonable cost. As more and more computers are being used in areas in which a malfunction of the system can be a source of serious losses or disturbances to the functioning of the society, the quality of software becomes a more and more critical factor of business success, human security, and safety. Examples of such application areas are enterprise management, public administration, and social insurance or post delivery services. The quality of services offered to the society depends on the quality of software systems that support the functioning of the respective public or private organizations (service providers).
Software engineering consists of a selection of methods and techniques that vary from project to project and evolve in time. The purpose of this volume is to provide an overview of the current work in software development techniques that can help with enhancing the quality of software. The chapters of this volume, organized by key topic area, create an agenda for the IFIP Working Conference on Software Engineering Techniques, SET 2006. The seven sections of the volume address the following areas: software architectures, modeling, project management, software quality, analysis and verification methods, data management, and software maintenance.