About the Authors

Michael Kircher works as a senior software engineer at Siemens AG Corporate Technology in Munich, Germany. His main fields of interest include distributed object computing, software architectures, design patterns, XP, and management of knowledge workers in innovative environments. In recent years, he has published at numerous conferences, such as OOPSLA, EuroPLoP, PLoP, Middleware, and XP, on topics such as patterns, open source, software architectures for distributed systems, and XP. Further, he jointly organized several workshops at conferences such as OOPSLA and EuroPLoP. When away from his notebook, he loves to enjoy nature, on foot, by bike, or hunting accompanied by his dog. On nice summer evenings, he enjoys tasty Italian food on the patio of his favorite restaurant. Michael can be reached at [e-mail].

Prashant Jain is a principal software engineer in the Corporate Research division of Siemens AG in Delhi, India. He holds a master's degree in computer science from Washington University. His main fields of interest include distributed systems, design patterns, and XP. His professional experience includes working as a software engineer for companies including Fujitsu Network Communications, Inc., and Kodak Health Imaging Systems, Inc. Prashant can be reached at [e-mail].

Angelo Corsaro is currently a Ph.D. student at the University of California, Irvine. He holds an M.S. in computer science from Washington University and a Laurea in computer engineering from the University of Catania, Italy. His main research interests are related to real-time embedded systems, scheduling, resource management, software patterns, Meta-Object Protocols, Aspect-Oriented Programming, and lightweight development methodologies. Angelo can be reached at [e-mail].

David L. Levine is the director of engineering at CombineNet, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He received a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of California, Irvine, an MSEE/CS from George Washington University, and a BSME from Cornell University. His research interests include development, testing, and performance analysis of efficient object-oriented real-time systems, and XP. Dr. Levine has extensive industry experience in developing software for solving combinatorial exchange problems, broadband telecommunications, high-fidelity electro-optic sensor system simulation, and electric/hybrid and internal combustion engine vehicle applications. David can be reached at [e-mail].