English rural society underwent fundamental changes between the thirteenth and eighteenth centuries with urbanization, commercialization and industrialization producing new challenges and opportunities for inhabitants of rural communities. However, our understanding of this period has been shaped by the compartmentalization of history into medieval and early-modern specialisms and by the debates surrounding the transition from feudalism to capitalism and landlord-tenant relations. Inspired by the classic works of Tawney and Postan, this collection of essays examines their relevance to historians today, distinguishing between their contrasting approaches to the pre-industrial economy and exploring the development of agriculture and rural industry; changes in land and property rights; and competition over resources in the English countryside.

This volume contains papers from the Eighth Z User Meeting, to be held at the University of Cambridge from 29 - 30 June 1994. The papers cover a wide range of issues associated with Z and formal methods, with particular reference to practical application. These issues include education, standards, tool support, and interaction with other design paradigms such as consideration of real-time and object-oriented approaches to development. Among the actual topics covered are: the formal specification in Z of Defence Standard 00-56; formal specification of telephone features; specifying and interpreting class hierarchies in Z; and software quality assurance using the SAZ method. Z User Workshop, Cambridge 1994 provides an important overview of current research into industrial applications of Z, and will provide invaluable reading for researchers, postgraduate students and also potential industrial users of Z.

The Z notation has been developed at the Programming Research Group at the Oxford University Computing Laboratory and elsewhere for over a decade. It is now used by industry as part of the software (and hardware) development process in both Europe and the USA. It is currently undergoing BSI standardisation in the UK, and has been proposed for ISO standardisation internationally. In recent years researchers have begun to focus increasingly on the development of techniques and tools to encourage the wider application of Z and other formal methods and notations. This volume contains papers from the Seventh Annual Z User Meeting, held in London in December 1992. In contrast to previous years the meeting concentrated specifically on industrial applications of Z, and a high proportion of the participants came from an industrial background. The theme is well represented by the four invited papers. Three of these discuss ways in which formal methods are being introduced, and the fourth presents an international survey of industrial applications. It also provides a reminder of the improvements which are needed to make these methods an accepted part of software development. In addition the volume contains several submitted papers on the industrial use of Z, two of which discuss the key area of safety-critical applications. There are also a number of papers related to the recently-completed ZIP project. The papers cover all the main areas of the project including methods, tools, and the development of a Z Standard, the first publicly-available version of which was made available at the meeting. Finally the volume contains a select Z bibliography, and section on how to access information on Z through comp.specification.z, the international, computer-based USENET newsgroup. Z User Workshop, London 1992 provides an important overview of current research into industrial applications of Z, and will provide invaluable reading for researchers, postgraduate students and also potential industrial users of Z.

English rural society underwent fundamental changes between the thirteenth and eighteenth centuries with urbanization, commercialization and industrialization producing new challenges and opportunities for inhabitants of rural communities. However, our understanding of this period has been shaped by the compartmentalization of history into medieval and early-modern specialisms and by the debates surrounding the transition from feudalism to capitalism and landlord-tenant relations. Inspired by the classic works of Tawney and Postan, this collection of essays examines their relevance to historians today, distinguishing between their contrasting approaches to the pre-industrial economy and exploring the development of agriculture and rural industry; changes in land and property rights; and competition over resources in the English countryside.