Software Engineering and the Systems Approach

IJITSA is honored by the fact that this issue presents an interview with probably the most significant figure in the field of software engineering since its inception and one of its founders, Professor Barry W. Boehm. He has published many seminal books and papers that have shaped the foundations of software engineering. We have included in the references just a small sample of his numerous publications addressing some of the fundamental issues in this field in recent years. They cover diverse topics ranging from a comparison of agile development methods and software engineering (Boehm & Turner, 2004) to reflections on enhancing software engineering education (Boehm, 2006c). A thought-provoking review of the evolution of software engineering and its current challenges is presented in Boehm (2006b), while his thoughts on the need to integrate more closely software and systems engineering are reflected in Boehm (2006a) and Boehm and Lane (2006). The questions we asked Professor Boehm relate to his significant contributions to software engineering and enhancing its links to the systems approach.