Software engineering tools and environments: A roadmap

Abstract

Tools and environments to aid developers in producing software have existed, in one form or another, since the early days of computer programming. They are becoming increasingly crucial as the demand for software increases, time-to-market decreases, and diversity and complexity grow beyond anything imagined a few decades ago. In this paper, we briefly review some of the history of tools and environments in software engineering, and then discuss some key challenges that we believe the field faces over the next decade.