Formal methods and software engineering

This volume contains the proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Formal Engineering Methods: ICFEM 2002. The conference was held in Sha- hai, China, from 21 to 25 October 2002. Formal methods for software development have been extensively researched and their use in industry is increasing. Recent applications to the development of safety-critical, security-critical, and mission-critical systems have signi?cantly increased trustworthiness, without increasing overall development costs. ICFEM encourages the exchange of ideas on recent advances in formal methods and software engineering. The conference received 108 papers submitted from 24 di?erent countries and regions. A total of 43 regular and 16 short papers were accepted. All papers were reviewed by three or four members of the program committee or other reviewers. The conference would not have been possible without their voluntary and dedicated work. The conference had a number of excellent keynote speakers: Prof. Ralph- Johan Back of Abo Akademi University, Finland, Dr. Mark A. Hale of Inter woven Inc., USA, Dr. Richard J]ullig of CommerceNet Consortium, USA, Prof. Shaoying Liu of Hosei University, Japan, and Prof. Jim Woodcock of the University of Kent, UK. They provided a balanced view of advanced formal methods and software engineering from their research programs and