Preface Volume 74

AbstractThis volume contains the Proceedings of the Second Irish Conference on the Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science and Information Technology (MFCSIT 2002). The conference was a two-day event and took place in the National University of Ireland, Galway, (NUI, Galway) on18th and 19st July, 2002.MFCSIT2002 is the second of a series of conferences to be held in Ireland whose main focus is the mathematical and foundational issues arising out of computer science and information technology. The first of these conferences, MFCSIT2000, was held at NUI, Cork on 20/21 July2000. The Proceedings were published as Volume 40 of the Electronic Notes in Theoretical Computer Science (ENTCS), (T. Hurley, M. Airchinnigh, M. Schellekens and A. Seda (eds.))The following extract from the introduction to the first conference is well worth repeating: “It is now widely recognised that there has been a very significant increase in Ireland over the last few years in activities relating to the production of software and hardware by many computer manufacturers, including some of the world's best-known names in the computer industry. However, it was felt by a number of people˙˙ that a need had emerged for a forum which could provide the means for discussion ˙˙ of related theoretical questions, and so help maintain a balance between theory and practice. The MFCSIT conferences are intended to provide such a forum and hence to help maintain this balance.”It is my pleasure to record a debt of gratitude to a considerable number of people who made the meeting the success it was, both on my own behalf and on behalf of my fellow editors: Sharon Flynn, Mícheál Mac an Airchinnigh, Niall Madden, Michael McGettrick, Michel Schellekens, and Anthony Seda.We were fortunate in having seven internationally well-known speakers who gave key-note addresses: Steve Brookes, Matthew Hennessey, Derek Holt, Peter Jeavons, Bill Lawvere, David MacKay and Mark Sofroniou. The speakers brilliantly set the themes for this conference with their fascinating and stimulating talks. We are indeed grateful to these for their participation and talks - many of the participants expressed appreciation of the quality and depth of these key-note addresses.We had two special sessions, one on Coding Theory organised by Pat Fitzpatrick, and one on Topology in Computer Science organised by Michel Schellekens and Anthony Seda. Our sincere thanks go to the organisers of these special sessions, and to the invited speakers for those sessions: Achim Jung, Mike Smyth, Dieter Spreen, David McKay, Edgar Martinez-Moro and Eimear Byrne.On the editing side, we are extremely grateful to all those who refereed the proceedings. We are particularly indebted to Niall Madden who bore the brunt of the editing and preparation of the proceedings; his expertise was invaluable.A conference cannot exist, of course, without participants, so our thanks to those who attended. (Altogether there were 57 registered participants plus a number of occasional visitors.) We are grateful also to those who submitted papers, to those who chaired sessions, and to Jimmie Browne, Registrar and Deputy-President of NUI, Galway, who opened the conference.Finally, we wish to acknowledge the following sponsors, without whose support the conference could not have taken place: Science Foundation IrelandThe Registrar's Office, NUI, GalwayThe Mathematics Department, NUI, GalwayThe Information Technology Department, NUI, GalwayThe School of Mathematics, Applied Mathematics and Statistics, NUI, CorkThe Computer Science Department, NUI, CorkSepember 19, 2003Ted Hurle