Editor's corner : Applying specification, verification, and validation techniques

Software systems have become increasingly complex, while demands for quality, reliability, and costeffective software development continue. Reliability is one of the most important attributes in critical systems such as strategic defense systems, aerospace applications, real-time control, medical applications, etc., as well as in commercial software systems. Software engineers must ensure a level of quality and reliability before a software product is released and while a product is maintained and upgraded for new releases. Techniques to specify expected software behavior and validate that the software meets requirements are necessary to ensure software quality and reliability. Approaches to specifying software behavior include data flow diagrams, abstract modeling, algebraic techniques, and trace specifications; techniques to validate that the software satisfies requirements include software inspections, software analysis, testing, and forma1 verification. These techniques can be used to evaluate development status during the design and testing of a software system; they are also used to monitor operational performance of software and to control addition/alteration of features during maintenance. This special issue focuses on the different aspects of specification, validation, and verification of real life software.