This text presents an overview of two approaches to software engineering - formal methods and object-oriented techniques. By extracting the best aspects of each, the text demonstrates how better and safer software is being developed. Three main strands of research are identified and discussed: the application of formal methods to object technology; the extension of formal methods with object-oriented concepts; and the formal foundations of object technology. Examples of each approach are included and areas such as concurrency and real time, which are especially important in the development of large scale, distributed and safety critical systems, are addressed.