Selected papers from the fourth Source Code Analysis and Manipulation (SCAM 2004) Workshop

This special issue of the Journal of Systems and Software contains five papers. All of the papers originate from the fourth Source Code Analysis and Manipulation (SCAM 04) Workshop, which was held in Chicago on the 15th and 16th of September 2004. The SCAM workshop aims to bring together researchers and practitioners working on theory, techniques and applications that concern analysis and/or manipulation of the source code of computer systems. While much attention in the wider software engineering community is properly directed towards other aspects of systems development and evolution, such as specification, design and requirements engineering, it is the source code that contains the only precise description of the behavior of the system. The analysis and manipulation of source code thus remains a pressing concern and this is the primary motivation for the workshop. The terms of reference for the workshop were set out at the first SCAM workshop in 2001 and have remained unchanged since that time. They are captured by the definitions of source code, analysis and manipulation adopted by the workshop. The term ‘source code’ is defined by SCAM to mean any fully executable description of a software system. It is therefore so-construed as to include machine code, very high level languages and executable graphical representations of systems. The term ‘analysis’ is taken to mean any automated or semi-automated procedure which takes source code and yields insight into its meaning. Finally, the term ‘manipulation’ is taken to mean any automated or semi-automated procedure which takes and returns source code. These definitions have served the workshop well and have contributed to a tightly focused and highly technical workshop event with high quality contributions and lively discussion and interaction. Since its inception in 2001, the SCAM workshop has been held in co-location with ICSM and its satellite events. The first SCAM workshop (SCAM 2001) was a one day event that attracted 32 paper submissions and 40 attendees. In 2002 there were 21 submissions and 43 attendees. In 2003 attendance rose to 53, while the submission level rose to 43.