Introduction by the Program Chairs
2008
ICST covers areas such as test-driven development, model-based software testing, domain specific testing (e.g., third party components, databases), empirical studies of testing techniques and their cost effectiveness, and the technology transfer of test technologies. Of course, these are only a few of the relevant topics and the aim was to publish high quality papers from many areas of software quality. The ICST charter specifies rules ensuring the transparent, democratic, and open management of the conference. For example, there are limits on how long someone can serve on the steering committee and new members of the steering committee will be selected by election. The program committee accepted three types of papers for ICST 2008: research papers, industry papers (including short industry papers), and student papers. We were encouraged by the number of papers we received: approximately 250 in total when duplicates were removed. Of these, a total of 65 were accepted including 37 regular papers, 19 industry papers and 9 student papers. In addition, there are several workshops on specialized topics. We hope and believe that ICST 2008 will prove to be a rich and varied experience for all those who attend.