Uwe Schöning - Böcker

By the development of new fields and applications, such as Automated Theorem Proving and Logic Programming, Logic has obtained a new and important role in Computer Science. The goal of this l- ture series was to give the undergraduate student an early and theoretically well-founded access to modern applications of Logic in Computer Science.

While I was visiting Boston University during the 1996-97 academic year, I noticed a small book, written in German, on a shelf in Steve Homer's office. Curious, I borrowed it for my train ride home and began reading one of the chapters. I liked the style and format of the book so much that over the course of the next few months I frequently found myself reaching for it and working through one chapter or another. This was my introduction to Peden der Theoretischen Informatik. A few of my colleagues had also seen the book. They also found it inter­ esting, but most of them did not read German well enough to read more than small portions of it enjoyably. I hope that the English version will rectify this situation, and that many will enjoy (and learn from) the English version as much as I enjoyed the German version. The front matter of this book says that it has been "translated, revised, and expanded." I should perhaps say a few words about each of these tasks. In translating the book, Ihave tried as much as possible to retain the feel of the original, which is somewhat less formal and impersonal than a typical text book yet relatively concise. I certainly hope that the "pleasure of the pursuit of understanding" has not gotten lost in the translation.

Das Buch macht den Leser mit den wesentlichen Teilgebieten der formalen Logik vertraut, die Bestandteil der Ausbildung in Theoretischer Informatik sind. Die Darstellung orientiert sich an den Bedürfnissen von Informatikstudierenden. Insbesondere werden viele mehr auf das Prinzipielle ausgerichtete Resultate der formalen Logik unter einem algorithmischen Gesichtspunkt behandelt. Diese Vorgehensweise erleichtert entscheidend den Zugang zu dem abstrakten Themengebiet. Prof. Schöning gelingt eine kompakte und verständliche Darstellung der Aussagen- und Prädikatenlogik, bei der die benötigten Begriffe präzise eingeführt und durch Beispiele veranschaulicht werden. Darauf beruhend werden Anwendungen der Logik in der Informatik, wie z. B. Resolution, Automatisches Beweisen und Logik-Programmierung behandelt. Zahlreiche Übungsaufgaben mit ausführlichen Lösungshinweisen erleichtern die Vertiefung des Lernstoffes.