A number of interrelated developments are changing the nature of software technology. Developments in hardware are putting greatly increased power at the disposal of the software technologist. Advances in formal methods are providing the means to bring greater precision into the early stages of system development. Techniques such as expert systems are being brought into the domain of software technology as a result of advances in the application of artificial intelligence research. Developments in paradigms of system development are giving the software technologist better models of system structure and better tools and techniques for creating large systems, and greater political recognition of the importance of information technology is resulting in increased funding for research and development in software technology.

Software engineering products are becoming ever more complex, because software is being used in the solution of more technically difficult problems and because the size of software projects continues to grow. A key question for software engineers is how to cope with this complexity. There is no single answer, and software engineers must attack the problem from a number of perspectives. A technical perspective reveals new paradigms for system development, including two paradigms that show particular promise: object-oriented design and formal methods. A management perspective recognises that good project management is vital to the success of a complex project. The scale of modern projects makes it essential to use automated support, so software engineers must also look at how to manage complexity from an automation perspective. Automated support can come in the form of discrete tools for particular tasks, or a packaged set of tools in a support environment.