Handbook of Model Checking

With 32 technical articles and 76 authors, this handbook represents a full postgraduate course in Model Checking. If a reader can verify that he or she has read and studied every article, then Springer should certainly award that reader a Master’s Degree inModel Checking! Departments in Computer Science everywhere will certainly welcome access to this major resource. Model Checking has become a major area of research and development both for hardware and software verification owing to many factors. First, the improved speed and capacity of computers in recent times have made all kinds of problem solving both practical and efficient. Moreover, in the area of Model Checking the methods of design of models have contributed to the best formulation of problems. Then we have seen SAT solvers gain unexpected and truly remarkable efficiency improvements—despite theoretical limitations. Additionally, the methodology of Satisfiability Modulo Theories (SMT) has contributed to finding excellent ways to pose and solve problems. Uses of temporal logic and data-flow-analysis techniques have also made model checking more naturally efficient. All these contributions have helped solve the ever-present “state explosion problem.” The urgency to make greater strides has increased because new applications in such diverse areas as health care, transportation, security, and robotics require work in the field to achieve greater scale, expressivity, and automation. I would definitely recommend new Ph.D. candidates look seriously into going into research in this field, because success in Model Checking can directly lead to future success in many other activities in Computer Science. Finally, the recent tragic loss of Helmut Veith has been a dreadful blow to his family, friends, colleagues, and students. Let’s take up the flag in his honor to help promote and expand the field in which he was poised to become a recognized world leader. Carnegie Mellon University Dana S. Scott Department of Mathematics, University of California, Berkeley