Software Architecture: The Integration of Theory and Practice

WICSA 2007 is the premier international gathering of software architecture researchers and practitioners. WICSA 2007 is the sixth international conference devoted entirely to Software Architecture. Its purpose is to bring together software engineering practitioners and researchers from industry and academia to exchange experiences, results and ideas related to all aspects of software architecture. WICSA 2007 will be the ideal venue for identifying and discussing the key challenges facing practicing software architects, and for helping to set the research agenda for our community.

Submissions are invited for research papers, working session papers, and proposals for half-day or full-day tutorials. Research papers should describe original and significant work on the theory and practice of software and system architectures. Accepted research papers will be presented in plenary sessions. Accepted working session papers will be used as the basis of discussion in the working sessions, whose purpose is to provide a forum for software researchers and practitioners to communicate about the benefits and weaknesses of current software architecture practice and research. Practitioners are asked to describe best and worst experiences from the trenches, and researchers are asked to describe areas where research progress is slowed because of lack of access to real world problems. All accepted papers will appear in the conference proceedings. Full submission guidelines can be found on the WICSA Web site.

Topics of interest for WICSA 2007 include but are not restricted to:

Looking Back; Looking Forward

• State-of-the-Practice in Software Architecture
• State-of-the-Art in Software Architecture
• Software Architecture Success Stories
• Missed Opportunities in Software Architecture
• Current Challenges and Opportunities
• Long-Term Prospects for Software Architecture Research and Practice

Software Architecture in a Broader Context

• Product-Line Architectures
• Relationship of System and Software Architectures
• Architectural Patterns and Styles
• Domain Specific and Reference Architectures
• Domain Analysis and Engineering
• Component-Based Software Engineering
• Service-Oriented Architectures
• Architecture's Role in Governance

Software Architecture-Based Development

• Architecture Description Languages
• Model-Driven Architecture
• Methods for Evaluating Software Architectures
• Role of Software Architecture in Ensuring

Qualities-of-Service

• Architectural Transformations
• Software Architecture Discovery and Recovery
• Traceability from Requirements to Architecture to Implementation
• Architecture in an Agile Development Environment
• Architecture using Open Source Technologies

Role of Software Architecture in Industry

• Case Studies
• Industrial Best Practices
• Software Architects' Roles and Responsibilities
• Interoperability and Integration
• Training, Education, and Certification of Software Architects
• Cultural, Economical and Managerial Aspects

Working Sessions: WICSA 2007 will include a panel of leaders in the field to discuss their views on the past, present, and future of the field. Based on the accepted working session papers and the challenges identified by the panel, a significant portion of WICSA 2007 will be organized into working sessions. The results of these sessions will be prepared and presented to all attendees at the end of the conference and is intended to serve as a "call to action" to the software architecture community. The proceedings will be published after the conference so that it can contain the results of the working sessions. Electronic versions of the papers will be distributed at the conference, and available prior to it, via download.

Tutorials: WICSA 2007 will hold a number of tutorials in conjunction with the conference program. We invite submissions to present either half day or full day tutorials on topics related to software architecture. A proposal should be no more than 2 pages, and outline the tutorial contents, intended audience and the tutorial experience of the presenters.

Paper Submissions: Full papers should be submitted in IEEE 2 column format, and be limited to 10 pages in length. Working paper sessions should be in IEEE 2 column format, and be restricted to 4 pages. For paper submission, click here

Tutorial submissions should be no longer than 2 pages, and should include title, length (half or full day), brief bios of presenters, target audience and an outline of the materials to be presented. Send tutorial proposals to daniel.paulish@siemens.com.