Bertrand Meyer

Eiffel is a method of software construction and a language applicable to the analysis, design, implementation and maintenance of software systems. It assists developers in creating correct, easy to change software systems. A central feature is the support for Design by Contract, where each component is accompanied by preconditions and postconditions and invariants that define its behavior. Thus Eiffel adapts techniques from the theory of proving programs correct so that they can be applied by practitioners to all the stages of specifying, designing, implementing, and maintaining correct software.

Based on object-oriented programming, Eiffel includes support for classes, which often correspond to abstract data types, and inheritance. Eiffel also supports many other features that are needed for creating complete solutions to complex programming tasks, including support for type conversions, exception handling, concurrency, and "agents."

The language is sophisticated in design but simple in presentation, syntactically forgiving yet semantically precise, object-oriented by intent while mindful of historically useful language constructs. Thus Eiffel has exerted considerable influence on other languages. It became an ISO standard in November 2006.

With Eiffel as his vehicle, Bertrand Meyer has been instrumental in promoting the benefits of principled programming. His book entitled Object-Oriented Software Construction and his university courses and commercial seminars have informed and trained countless software professionals and students. While pioneering multiple programming concepts and features, Eiffel has enjoyed commercial success in financial, industrial and government sectors, with tools and services provided by Eiffel Software, founded by Dr. Meyer in 1985.