This volume contains papers selected for presentation during the 24th Interna tional Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science held on September 6-10, 1999 in Szklarska Por^ba, Poland. The symposium, organized alternately in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Poland, focuses on theoretical aspects and mathematical foundations of computer science. The scientific program of the symposium consists of five invited talks given by Martin Dyer, Dexter Kozen, Giovanni Manzini, Sergio Rajsbaum, and Mads Tofte, and 37 accepted papers chosen out of 68 submissions. The volume contains all accepted contributed papers, and three invited papers. The contributed papers have been selected for presentation based on their scientific quality, novelty, and interest for the general audience of MFCS par ticipants. Each paper has been reviewed by at least three independent referees — PC members and/or sub-referees appointed by them. The papers were se lected for presentation during a fully electronic virtual meeting of the program committee on May 7, 1999. The virtual PC meeting was supported by software written by Artur Zgoda, Ph.D. student at the University of Wroclaw. The entire communication and access to quite a sensitive database at PC headquarters in Wroclaw was secured by cryptographic protocols based on technology of certificates.
