This book is an attempt to facilitate the exchange of knowledge and experience between academia and industry and, in so doing, to bridge the gap between them. This collection of papers originates from tutorial lectures given between 2006 and 2008 at the International Summer School on Software Engineering (ISSSE), at the University of Salerno, Italy.

The papers, as well as the overall book, are readable and well organized. The book presents many current methods, techniques, and tools used in modern software engineering theory and practice. The description of each technique, method, and tool related to a particular phase is integrated into the chapter that covers that phase. The explanations are well illustrated and explicitly relate to the topic and research case study discussed. The book is organized in three major parts: “Software Requirements and Design,” “Software Testing and Reverse Engineering,” and “Management.” The most interesting topics include research on usability in requirements engineering, testing of service-oriented architectures, empirical software engineering, software adaptability and dependability, Web cost estimation and productivity assessment, reverse engineering, and collaborative development.

Reading these papers should help PhD students, university researchers, and industry professionals gain useful insights into current research topics in software engineering.