Companion to the 23rd ACM SIGPLAN conference on Object-oriented programming systems languages and applications

It's a pleasure to welcome you to OOPSLA 2008, the 23rd Annual Conference on Object-Oriented Programming, Systems, Languages, and Applications. Originally devoted to object-oriented programming, OOPSLA has grown in scope to encompass programming, practices and paradigms addressing current software challenges, such as programmer productivity, security & reliability, ultra-large scale systems and evolving hardware platforms. OOPSLA is the premier forum for practitioners, researchers, educators and students in diverse disciplines whose common threads are objects and related technologies. From its inception, OOPSLA has served as an incubator for advanced technologies and practices. Dynamic compilation and optimization, patterns, refactoring, aspect-oriented software development, agile methods, service-oriented architectures and model-driven development (to name just a few) all have OOPSLA roots. OOPSLA 2008 continues and strengthens that tradition. It features an exciting roster of researchers, practitioners and educators from around the world coming to showcase their latest work in a highly diverse set of venues that meet the needs of our equally diverse audience. Presentations from invited speakers dovetail with technical papers, practitioner reports, expert panels, demonstrations, formal and informal educational symposia, workshops, and tutorials from world-class lecturers. Bend your head around some out-of-the box thinking at the ever-popular Onward! track. Discuss late-breaking results with the researchers themselves at poster sessions, which culminate in the ACM Student Research Competition. Get some hands-on design experience at the DesignFest®. Gather together with like-minded people at Open Space and Birds-of-a-Feather sessions to discuss shared topics of interest. Or just let us know what's on your mind at the Lightning Talks, where anyone can speak to the community on just about anything at all.