This book describes some basic principles that allow developers of computer programs (computer scientists, software engineers, programmers) to clearly think about the artifacts they deal with in their daily work: data types, programming languages, programs written in these languages that compute from given inputs wanted outputs, and programs that describe continuously executing systems. The core message is that clear thinking about programs can be expressed in a single universal language, the formal language of logic. Apart from its universal elegance and expressiveness, this "logical" approach to the formal modeling of and reasoning about computer programs has another advantage: due to advances in computational logic (automated theorem proving, satisfiability solving, model checking), nowadays much of this process can be supported by software. This book therefore accompanies its theoretical elaborations by practical demonstrations of various systems and tools that are based on respectively make use of the presented logical underpinnings.

This book demonstrates how to formally model various mathematical domains (including algorithms operating in these domains) in a way that makes them amenable to a fully automatic analysis by computer software.The presented domains are typically investigated in discrete mathematics, logic, algebra, and computer science; they are modeled in a formal language based on first-order logic which is sufficiently rich to express the core entities in whose correctness we are interested: mathematical theorems and algorithmic specifications. This formal language is the language of RISCAL, a “mathematical model checker” by which the validity of all formulas and the correctness of all algorithms can be automatically decided. The RISCAL software is freely available; all formal contents presented in the book are given in the form of specification files by which the reader may interact with the software while studying the corresponding book material.

BrunoBuchberger This book is a synopsis of basic and applied research done at the various re search institutions of the Softwarepark Hagenberg in Austria. Starting with 15 coworkers in my Research Institute for Symbolic Computation (RISC), I initiated the Softwarepark Hagenberg in 1987 on request of the Upper Aus trian Government with the objective of creating a scienti?c, technological, and economic impulse for the region and the international community. In the meantime, in a joint e?ort, the Softwarepark Hagenberg has grown to the current (2009) size of over 1000 R&D employees and 1300 students in six research institutions, 40 companies and 20 academic study programs on the bachelor, master's and PhD level. The goal of the Softwarepark Hagenberg is innovation of economy in one of the most important current technologies: software. It is the message of this book that this can only be achieved and guaranteed long term by "watering the root", namely emphasis on research, both basic and applied. In this book, we summarize what has been achieved in terms of research in the various research institutions in the Softwarepark Hagenberg and what research vision we have for the imminent future. When I founded the Softwarepark Hagenberg, in addition to the "watering the root" principle, I had the vision that such a technology park can only prosper if we realize the "magic triangle", i.e. the close interaction of research, academic education, and business applications at one site, see Figure 1.

BrunoBuchberger This book is a synopsis of basic and applied research done at the various re search institutions of the Softwarepark Hagenberg in Austria. Starting with 15 coworkers in my Research Institute for Symbolic Computation (RISC), I initiated the Softwarepark Hagenberg in 1987 on request of the Upper Aus trian Government with the objective of creating a scienti?c, technological, and economic impulse for the region and the international community. In the meantime, in a joint e?ort, the Softwarepark Hagenberg has grown to the current (2009) size of over 1000 R&D employees and 1300 students in six research institutions, 40 companies and 20 academic study programs on the bachelor, master's and PhD level. The goal of the Softwarepark Hagenberg is innovation of economy in one of the most important current technologies: software. It is the message of this book that this can only be achieved and guaranteed long term by "watering the root," namely emphasis on research, both basic and applied. In this book, we summarize what has been achieved in terms of research in the various research institutions in the Softwarepark Hagenberg and what research vision we have for the imminent future. When I founded the Softwarepark Hagenberg, in addition to the "watering the root" principle, I had the vision that such a technology park can only prosper if we realize the "magic triangle," i.e. the close interaction of research, academic education, and business applications at one site, see Figure 1.

This book describes some basic principles that allow developers of computer programs (computer scientists, software engineers, programmers) to clearly think about the artifacts they deal with in their daily work: data types, programming languages, programs written in these languages that compute from given inputs wanted outputs, and programs that describe continuously executing systems. The core message is that clear thinking about programs can be expressed in a single universal language, the formal language of logic. Apart from its universal elegance and expressiveness, this "logical" approach to the formal modeling of and reasoning about computer programs has another advantage: due to advances in computational logic (automated theorem proving, satisfiability solving, model checking), nowadays much of this process can be supported by software. This book therefore accompanies its theoretical elaborations by practical demonstrations of various systems and tools that are based on respectively make use of the presented logical underpinnings.