The twenty-six papers in this volume reflect the wide and still expanding range of Anil Nerode's work. A conference on Logical Methods was held in honor of Nerode's sixtieth birthday (4 June 1992) at the Mathematical Sciences Institute, Cornell University, 1-3 June 1992. Some of the conference papers are here, but others are from students, co-workers and other colleagues. The intention of the conference was to look forward, and to see the directions currently being pursued, in the development of work by, or with, Nerode. Here is a brief summary of the contents of this book. We give a retrospective view of Nerode's work. A number of specific areas are readily discerned: recursive equivalence types, recursive algebra and model theory, the theory of Turing degrees and r.e. sets, polynomial-time computability and computer science. Nerode began with automata theory and has also taken a keen interest in the history of mathematics. All these areas are represented. The one area missing is Nerode's applied mathematical work relating to the environment. Kozen's paper builds on Nerode's early work on automata. Recursive equivalence types are covered by Dekker and Barback, the latter using directly a fundamental metatheorem of Nerode. Recursive algebra is treated by Ge & Richards (group representations). Recursive model theory is the subject of papers by Hird, Moses, and Khoussainov & Dadajanov, while a combinatorial problem in recursive model theory is discussed in Cherlin & Martin's paper. Cenzer presents a paper on recursive dynamics.

This monograph details several important advances in the area known as the proofs-as-programs paradigm, a set of approaches to developing programs from proofs in constructive logic. It serves the dual purpose of providing a state-of-the-art overview of the field and detailing tools and techniques to stimulate further research.

One of the booka (TM)s central themes is a general, abstract framework for developing new systems of program synthesis by adapting proofs-as-programs to new contexts, which the authors call the Curry--Howard Protocol. This protocol is used to provide two novel applications for industrial-scale, complex software engineering: contractual imperative program synthesis and structured software synthesis. These applications constitute an exemplary justification for the applicability of the protocol to different contexts.

The book is intended for graduate students in computer science or mathematics who wish to extend their background in logic and type theory as well as gain experience working with logical frameworks and practical proof systems. In addition, the proofs-as-programs research community, and the wider computational logic, formal methods and software engineering communities will benefit. The applications given in the book should be of interest for researchers working in the target problem domains.

This monograph details several important advances in the direction of a practical proofs-as-programs paradigm, which constitutes a set of approaches to developing programs from proofs in constructive logic with applications to industrial-scale, complex software engineering problems. One of the books central themes is a general, abstract framework for developing new systems of programs synthesis by adapting proofs-as-programs to new contexts.