The Formal Aspects of Computing Science (FACS) Specialist Group of the British Computer Society set up a seriesof evening seminarsin 2005to report on advances in the application of formal design and analysis techniques in all the stages of software development. The seminars attracted an audience fromboth academiaand industry, andgavethem the opportunity to hear and meet pioneers andkeyresearchersin computing science.Normally it wouldbe necessaryto travelabroadand attend an internationalconference to be in the presence of such respected ?gures; instead, the evening seminar programme, overa period of threeyears, broughtthe keynotespeakers of the conference to theBritishComputerSocietyheadquarters, fortheconvenienceofanaudience basedinLondon.Severalspeakersfromtheperiod2005-2007kindlydeveloped their talks into full papers, which form the basis of this volume. Iamdelightedtowelcomethepublicationofsuchanexcellentandcomp- hensiveseriesofcontributions.Theyarenowavailableinbookformtoaneven wider audience, including developers interested in solutions already available, and researchers interested in problems which remain for future solution. Sir Tony Hoare Preface They envy the distinction I have won; let them therefore, envy my toils, my honesty, and the methods by which I gained it. - Sallust (86-34 BC) Formalmethods area powerfultechniqueforhelping toensure the correctness of software. The growth in their use has been slow but steady and they are typically applied in critical systems where safety or security is paramoun

The Formal Aspects of Computing Science (FACS) Specialist Group of the British Computer Society set up a seriesof evening seminarsin 2005to report on advances in the application of formal design and analysis techniques in all the stages of software development. The seminars attracted an audience fromboth academiaand industry, andgavethem the opportunity to hear and meet pioneers andkeyresearchersin computing science.Normally it wouldbe necessaryto travelabroadand attend an internationalconference to be in the presence of such respected ?gures; instead, the evening seminar programme, overa period of threeyears,broughtthe keynotespeakers of the conference to theBritishComputerSocietyheadquarters,fortheconvenienceofanaudience basedinLondon.Severalspeakersfromtheperiod2005-2007kindlydeveloped their talks into full papers, which form the basis of this volume. Iamdelightedtowelcomethepublicationofsuchanexcellentandcomp- hensiveseriesofcontributions.Theyarenowavailableinbookformtoaneven wider audience, including developers interested in solutions already available, and researchers interested in problems which remain for future solution. Sir Tony Hoare Preface They envy the distinction I have won; let them therefore, envy my toils, my honesty, and the methods by which I gained it. - Sallust (86-34 BC) Formalmethods area powerfultechniqueforhelping toensure the correctness of software. The growth in their use has been slow but steady and they are typically applied in critical systems where safety or security is paramount.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the First International Conference of Abstract State Machines, B and Z, ABZ 2008, held in London, UK, in September 2008. The conference simultaneously incorporated the 15th International ASM Workshop, the 17th International Conference of Z Users and the 8th International Conference on the B Method.

The 44 revised full papers presented together with 4 invited contributions were carefully reviewed and selected from numerous submissions. The conference fosters the cross-fertilization of three rigorous methods for the design and analysis of hardware and software systems - both in academia and industry - namely Abstract State Machines, B, and Z. Covering a wide range of research spanning from theoretical and methodological foundations to tool support and practical applications, the contributions are organized in topical sections on abstract state machines, B papers, Z papers, ABZ short papers, and the papers of the Verified Software Repository Network (VSR-net) workshop.