ICPC 2010 welcome message

Comprehension is the quintessence of human activity: we cannot do anything useful until we understand. From physicians to plumbers, we demand understanding of the problem at hand. So it is with software engineering. Comprehension is the foundation of all professional action: construction, reuse, and re-engineering; evolution, reverse engineering, and migration; testing, inspection, and quality assurance. Program comprehension is the task that precedes and is required to act on modern computing systems. The International Conference on Program Comprehension is the principal venue for work in the area. Program comprehension is both a technical and human activity; there are efforts in program and artifact analysis, and in information representation and modeling. The human and technical come together in attempts to present analyses in ways useful to the task. As with any science, we must then critically evaluate and compare approaches so that we may find our way to better ways. All of these areas are covered in this year's ICPC. ICPC 2010 received a record number of submissions, 89, out of which we received 76 technical paper submissions, which allowed us to assemble an excellent program that continues ICPC’s tradition of ensuring a high-quality program. All papers were reviewed by at least three (often more) members of the Program Committee. The discussions were rigorous and sometimes vigorous. The program includes 15 full research papers and 9 short papers. These numbers are lower than last year, due in large part to the yeoman efforts of the reviewers (whom we gratefully thank); the quality of the program is a result of their efforts, not ours. In keeping with practice, ICPC 2010 solicited and received submission of tool demonstrations. Building on last year's success, the program will again have a poster session. The keynote speakers this year are Neil Maiden of the City University in London, who will address us on "Creativity in Software Engineering," and Gail Murphy of the University of British Columbia, who will speak on "Context as an Antidote to Information Overload." We hope that the keynotes will 'bookend' the conference, with inspiration to creativity at one end and help with the overwhelming detail that we face at the other.