This collection of papers arose from a series of lecturesfor workers in computer science and other disciplines. Thelectures were intended to familiarize them with some of themost exciting advanced computer based systems for theconceptualization, design, implementation, simulation, andlogical analysis of applications in these disciplines.The collection presents some strong motivational points forthe use of theory based systems in the areas of functionalprogramming, concurrency, simulation, and automatedreasoning, highlighting some of their advantages anddisadvantages relative to conventional systems. The papersare mostly the work of individuals who were among theoriginators of the systemspresented.The volume is intended as a contribution to narrowing thelearning gap facing conventional computer users when theywish to use advanced theory based systems. The papers aremeant for a wide audience and should not require greatmathematical sophistication for their comprehension. Thepapers contain numerous references for those wishing topursue a topic in greater depth.

Concurrent systems abound in human experience but theirfully adequate conceptualization as yet eludes our most ablethinkers. The COSY (ConcurrentSystem) notation and theorywas developed in the last decade as one of a number ofmathematical approaches for conceptualizing and analyzingconcurrent and reactive systems.The COSY approach extends theconventional notions ofgrammar and automaton from formal language and automatatheory to collections of "synchronized" grammars andautomata, permitting system specification and analysis of"true" concurrency without reduction to non-determinism.COSY theory is developed to a great level of detail andconstitutes the first uniform and self-containedpresentationof all results about COSY published in thepast, as well as including many new results.COSY theory is used to analyze a sufficient number oftypical problems involving concurrency, synchronization andscheduling, to allow the reader to apply the techniquespresented tosimilar problems.The COSY model is also related to many alternative models ofconcurrency, particularly Petri Nets, CommunicatingSequential Processes and the Calculus of CommunicatingSystems.

This collection of papers arose from a series of lecturesfor workers in computer science and other disciplines. Thelectures were intended to familiarize them with some of themost exciting advanced computer based systems for theconceptualization, design, implementation, simulation, andlogical analysis of applications in these disciplines.The collection presents some strong motivational points forthe use of theory based systems in the areas of functionalprogramming, concurrency, simulation, and automatedreasoning, highlighting some of their advantages anddisadvantages relative to conventional systems. The papersare mostly the work of individuals who were among theoriginators of the systemspresented.The volume is intended as a contribution to narrowing thelearning gap facing conventional computer users when theywish to use advanced theory based systems. The papers aremeant for a wide audience and should not require greatmathematical sophistication for their comprehension. Thepapers contain numerous references for those wishing topursue a topic in greater depth.

Concurrent systems abound in human experience but theirfully adequate conceptualization as yet eludes our most ablethinkers. The COSY (ConcurrentSystem) notation and theorywas developed in the last decade as one of a number ofmathematical approaches for conceptualizing and analyzingconcurrent and reactive systems.The COSY approach extends theconventional notions ofgrammar and automaton from formal language and automatatheory to collections of "synchronized" grammars andautomata, permitting system specification and analysis of"true" concurrency without reduction to non-determinism.COSY theory is developed to a great level of detail andconstitutes the first uniform and self-containedpresentationof all results about COSY published in thepast, as well as including many new results.COSY theory is used to analyze a sufficient number oftypical problems involving concurrency, synchronization andscheduling, to allow the reader to apply the techniquespresented tosimilar problems.The COSY model is also related to many alternative models ofconcurrency, particularly Petri Nets, CommunicatingSequential Processes and the Calculus of CommunicatingSystems.