Krzysztof R. Apt - Böcker

Games provide mathematical models for interaction. Numerous tasks in computer science can be formulated in game-theoretic terms. This fresh and intuitive way of thinking through complex issues reveals underlying algorithmic questions and clarifies the relationships between different domains. This collection of lectures, by specialists in the field, provides an excellent introduction to various aspects of game theory relevant for applications in computer science that concern program design, synthesis, verification, testing and design of multi-agent or distributed systems. Originally devised for a Spring School organised by the GAMES Networking Programme in 2009, these lectures have since been revised and expanded, and range from tutorials concerning fundamental notions and methods to more advanced presentations of current research topics. This volume is a valuable guide to current research on game-based methods in computer science for undergraduate and graduate students. It will also interest researchers working in mathematical logic, computer science and game theory.

Constraint logic programming lies at the intersection of logic programming, optimisation and artificial intelligence. It has proved a successful tool in many areas including production planning, transportation scheduling, numerical analysis and bioinformatics. Eclipse is one of the leading software systems that realise its underlying methodology. Eclipse is exploited commercially by Cisco, and is freely available and used for teaching and research in over 500 universities. This book has a two-fold purpose. It's an introduction to constraint programming, appropriate for one-semester courses for upper undergraduate or graduate students in computer science or for programmers wishing to master the practical aspects of constraint programming. By the end of the book, the reader will be able to understand and write constraint programs that solve complex problems. Second, it provides a systematic introduction to the Eclipse system through carefully-chosen examples that guide the reader through the language and illustrate its power, versatility and utility.

HIS BOOK CONTAINS a most comprehensive text that presents syntax-directed and compositional methods for the formal veri?- T cation of programs. The approach is not language-bounded in the sense that it covers a large variety of programming models and features that appear in most modern programming languages. It covers the classes of - quential and parallel, deterministic and non-deterministic, distributed and object-oriented programs. For each of the classes it presents the various c- teria of correctness that are relevant for these classes, such as interference freedom, deadlock freedom, and appropriate notions of liveness for parallel programs. Also, special proof rules appropriate for each class of programs are presented. In spite of this diversity due to the rich program classes cons- ered, there exist a uniform underlying theory of veri?cation which is synt- oriented and promotes compositional approaches to veri?cation, leading to scalability of the methods. The text strikes the proper balance between mathematical rigor and - dactic introduction of increasingly complex rules in an incremental manner, adequately supported by state-of-the-art examples. As a result it can serve as a textbook for a variety of courses on di?erent levels and varying durations. It can also serve as a reference book for researchers in the theory of veri?- tion, in particular since it contains much material that never before appeared in book form. This is specially true for the treatment of object-oriented p- grams which is entirely novel and is strikingly elegant.

Edsger Wybe Dijkstra (1930–2002) was one of the most influential researchers in the history of computer science, making fundamental contributions to both the theory and practice of computing. Early in his career, he proposed the single-source shortest path algorithm, now commonly referred to as Dijkstra's algorithm. He wrote (with Jaap Zonneveld) the first ALGOL 60 compiler, and designed and implemented with his colleagues the influential THE operating system. Dijkstra invented the field of concurrent algorithms, with concepts such as mutual exclusion, deadlock detection, and synchronization. A prolific writer and forceful proponent of the concept of structured programming, he convincingly argued against the use of the Go To statement. In 1972 he was awarded the ACM Turing Award for "fundamental contributions to programming as a high, intellectual challenge; for eloquent insistence and practical demonstration that programs should be composed correctly, not just debugged into correctness; for illuminating perception of problems at the foundations of program design." Subsequently he invented the concept of self-stabilization relevant to fault-tolerant computing. He also devised an elegant language for nondeterministic programming and its weakest precondition semantics, featured in his influential 1976 book A Discipline of Programming in which he advocated the development of programs in concert with their correctness proofs. In the later stages of his life, he devoted much attention to the development and presentation of mathematical proofs, providing further support to his long-held view that the programming process should be viewed as a mathematical activity.In this unique new book, 31 computer scientists, including five recipients of the Turing Award, present and discuss Dijkstra's numerous contributions to computing science and assess their impact. Several authors knew Dijkstra as a friend, teacher, lecturer, or colleague. Their biographical essays and tributes provide a fascinating multi-author picture of Dijkstra, from the early days of his career up to the end of his life.

Edsger Wybe Dijkstra (1930–2002) was one of the most influential researchers in the history of computer science, making fundamental contributions to both the theory and practice of computing. Early in his career, he proposed the single-source shortest path algorithm, now commonly referred to as Dijkstra's algorithm. He wrote (with Jaap Zonneveld) the first ALGOL 60 compiler, and designed and implemented with his colleagues the influential THE operating system. Dijkstra invented the field of concurrent algorithms, with concepts such as mutual exclusion, deadlock detection, and synchronization. A prolific writer and forceful proponent of the concept of structured programming, he convincingly argued against the use of the Go To statement. In 1972 he was awarded the ACM Turing Award for "fundamental contributions to programming as a high, intellectual challenge; for eloquent insistence and practical demonstration that programs should be composed correctly, not just debugged into correctness; for illuminating perception of problems at the foundations of program design." Subsequently he invented the concept of self-stabilization relevant to fault-tolerant computing. He also devised an elegant language for nondeterministic programming and its weakest precondition semantics, featured in his influential 1976 book A Discipline of Programming in which he advocated the development of programs in concert with their correctness proofs. In the later stages of his life, he devoted much attention to the development and presentation of mathematical proofs, providing further support to his long-held view that the programming process should be viewed as a mathematical activity.In this unique new book, 31 computer scientists, including five recipients of the Turing Award, present and discuss Dijkstra's numerous contributions to computing science and assess their impact. Several authors knew Dijkstra as a friend, teacher, lecturer, or colleague. Their biographical essays and tributes provide a fascinating multi-author picture of Dijkstra, from the early days of his career up to the end of his life.

HIS BOOK CONTAINS a most comprehensive text that presents syntax-directed and compositional methods for the formal veri?- T cation of programs. The approach is not language-bounded in the sense that it covers a large variety of programming models and features that appear in most modern programming languages. It covers the classes of - quential and parallel, deterministic and non-deterministic, distributed and object-oriented programs. For each of the classes it presents the various c- teria of correctness that are relevant for these classes, such as interference freedom, deadlock freedom, and appropriate notions of liveness for parallel programs. Also, special proof rules appropriate for each class of programs are presented. In spite of this diversity due to the rich program classes cons- ered, there exist a uniform underlying theory of veri?cation which is synt- oriented and promotes compositional approaches to veri?cation, leading to scalability of the methods. The text strikes the proper balance between mathematical rigor and - dactic introduction of increasingly complex rules in an incremental manner, adequately supported by state-of-the-art examples. As a result it can serve as a textbook for a variety of courses on di?erent levels and varying durations. It can also serve as a reference book for researchers in the theory of veri?- tion, in particular since it contains much material that never before appeared in book form. This is specially true for the treatment of object-oriented p- grams which is entirely novel and is strikingly elegant.

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-proceedings of the Joint ERCIM/CoLogNET International Workshop on Constraint Solving and Constraint Logic Programming, CSCLP 2003 held in Budapest, Hungary in June/July 2003. The 15 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected for inclusion in the book. The papers are organized in Topical sections on constraint solving, soft constraints, language issues, and applications.

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-proceedings of the Joint ERCIM/Compulog-Net Workshop on New Trends in Constraints held in Paphos, Cyprus, Greece in October 1999. The 12 revised full research papers presented together with four surveys by leading researchers were carefully reviewed. The book is divided in topical sections on constraint propagation and manipulation, constraint programming, and rule-based constraint programming.

Logic Programming was founded 25 years ago. This exciting new text reveals both the evolution of this programming paradigm since its inception and the impressively broad scope of current research in Logic Programming. The contributions to the book deal with both theoretical and practical issues. They address such diverse topics as: computational molecular biology, machine learning, mobile computing, multi-agent systems, planning, numerical computing and dynamical systems, database systems, an alternative to the "formulas as types" approach, program semantics and analysis, and natural language processing. The contributors are all leading world experts in Logic Programming and their contributions were all invited and refereed.

The cooperation test [Apt, Francez & de Roever] was originally conceived to capture the proof theoretical analogue of distributed message exchange between disjoint processes, as opposed to the interference freedom test [Owicki & Gries], being the proof theoretical analogue of concurrent communication by means of interference through jointly shared variables. Some authors ([Levin & Gries, Lamport & Schneider, Schlichting and Schneider]) stress that both forms of communication can be proof theoretically characterized using interference freedom only, since proofs for both ultimately amount to an invariance proof of a big global assertion [Ashcroft], invariance of whose parts amounts to interference freedom. Yet I feel that the characteristic nature of the cooperation test is still preserved in the analysis of these authors, because in their analysis of CSP the part dealing with interference freedom specializes to maintenance of a global invariant, the expression of which requires per process the introduction of auxiliary variables which are updated in that process only, thus preserving the concept of disjointness (as opposed to sharing), since now all variables from different processes are disjoint. The cooperation test has been applied to characterize concurrent communication as occurring in Hoare's Communicating Sequential Processes (CSP) [Hoare 2], Ichbiah's ADA [ARM], and Brinch Hansen's Distributed Processes (DP) [Brinch Hansen]. This characterization has been certified through soundness and completeness proofs [Apt 2, Gerth]. As in the interference freedom test this characterization consists of two stages, a local sequential stage and a global stage.

This book offers a short and accessible account of the history of mathematics, written for the intelligent layman to gain a better appreciation of its beauty, relevance, and place in history. It traces the development of the subject throughout the centuries, starting with the so-called Lebombo bone, the oldest known mathematical object that was estimated to be at least 43,000 years old, and ending with the 21st century.The presentation is informal, and no prior knowledge of mathematics is needed to enjoy the systematic chronological insights. A collection of appendices is included for more technical material — though still at the level of secondary school mathematics — and is concerned with the historically important proofs and concepts that can be explained in a simple way.