Software evolution is a change in software requirements. It is an indispensable part of both software development and software maintenance and it is one of the most common software processes. Change in software is the b asic building block of the software evolution. Each change affects only a part of software and leaves the rest intact.

Software change is described in terms of the so-called change minicycle, consisting of several phases:

• change request
• change planning, including of software comprehension and change impact analysis
• change implementation, including restructuring for change, change localization, propagation of change
• validation of change.

The current problems with Year 2000 and Euro conversions are manifestations of the importance of research in this field.

2 Workshop Goals and Organization

The purpose of the workshop is to gather the most active researchers and practitioners in the field of software evolution and change. The workshop will explore both the state of the art and state of the practice. It wil l explore theoretical foundations, tools, empirical results, and practical experience. Our purpose is to foster collaboration among researchers and practitioners in the field.

The format of this one-day workshop consists of short introductory presentations, followed by discussion of the topics in breakout sessions. There will be a final plenary session where the results and summaries from the breakout session s will be presented.

3 Topics of Interest

The topics of interest for the workshop include, though are not limited to:

• models of the miniprocess of change
• representations and models of changing software
• theory, techniques and tools of program comprehension
• algorithms and scenarios for impact analysis, change localization, and propagation
• techniques of change specification and validation
• pathology of change: misplaced dependencies, cloning
• deterioration of software structure: detection and prevention
• restructuring for a specific change
• evolvable architectures
• design for change
• iterative software life-cycle
• redocumentation after change
• empirical results and practical experience

4 Submission of Papers

Workshop attendance is by invitation based on a submitted extended abstract or position statement. The maximum length of the contribution is five pages. It should explain novelty or contribution of the work. Also it sho uld make clear the current status of the work (idea, proposal, completed work, experience report, etc.) After the workshop, we expect the authors to expand the abstracts into full papers. Proceedings or a special issue will be published after the workshop .

All submissions are electronic, in Postscript or Word97 format. All correspondence with the authors will be electronic. The submitted papers should be sent to Václav Rajlich at rajlich@cs.wayne.edu. Questions and information about the workshop should also be addressed to this electronic mail address.

Further information about the workshop can be found at http://www.cs.wayne.edu/~vip/sce99.html

Important dates

Submission deadline :               March 1, 1999
Acceptance notification :          March 31, 1999
Date of the event :                     May 17, 1999

Program Committee

Keith Bennett                             University of Durham
Aiello Cimitille                         University of Salerno
Václav Rajlich                          Wayne State University
Anneliese von Mayrhauser        Colorado State University
Norman Wilde                           University of West Florida