A decade of TAPSOFT

The relationship between theory and practice of software development on the background of the driving forces in the 70'ies and 80'ies was the main topic of the first TAPSOFT conference in 1985. After a decade of TAPSOFT the intention of this survey is not so much to give a complete review of the TAPSOFT conferences but to discuss the general background and to focus on specific aspects of theory and practice which seem to be typical for TAPSOFT: The support of software development by algebraic methods, techniques and tools, in particular corresponding activities at TU Berlin. The survey in this paper shows that there is quite a different kind of progress in the decades before and after TAPSOFT'85: Before 1985 the focus was more on the development of new concepts while consolidation and attempts to adapt to practical needs was dominant after 1985.Finally the expectations for the future of theory and practice of software development are discussed on the background of the driving forces in the 90'ies hoping that TAPSOFT will be able to meet these requirements.