Preface. First International Workshop on Software Certification

Software is currently used to control medical devices, automobiles, aircraft, manufacturing plants, nuclear generating stations, space exploration systems, elevators, electric motors, automated trains, banking transactions, telecommunications devices and a growing number of devices in industry and in our homes. Software is also mission critical for many organizations, even if the software does not 'control' what happens. Clearly, many of these systems have the potential to cause physical harm if they malfunction. Even if they do not cause physical harm, their malfunctions are capable of causing financial and political chaos. Currently there is no consistent regulation of software and society is starting to demand that software used in critical systems must meet minimum safety, security and reliability standards. Manufacturers of these systems are in the unenviable position of not having any clear guidelines as to what may be regarded as acceptable standards in these situations. Even where the systems are not mission critical, software producers and their customers are becoming interested in methods for assuring quality that may result in software supplied with guarantees. The purpose of the workshop is to discuss issues related to software certification.