The collection of papers published in this book was initially presented at the Workshop on Software Factories and Ada, held on Capri, May 26-30, 1986. The subject of the book is software development environments. Software development is treated from three viewpoints: methodologies, language issues and mechanisms. Of particular interest are the discussions of automation of the development process and the formalization of software development specifications. Several new methodologies are described, many of which are available on the commercial market. New is in particular the formalization of the design and development process. Interesting ideas are presented on planning the design process and on supporting project management by formal tools. The reader will find a variety of interesting methodologies and mechanisms that are operational. The book is suitable for readers interested in knowing in which direction programming environment research is moving.