Preface Volume 40

AbstractThis volume contains the Proceedings of the First Irish Conference on the Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science and Information Technology (MFCSIT2000). The conference was a two-day event and took place in the National University of Ireland, Cork, on 20th and 21st July, 2000.MFCSIT2000 was the first conference to be held in Ireland whose main focus was the mathematical and foundational issues arising out of computer science and information technology. 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, including the guest editors of this volume, that a need had emerged for a forum which could provide the means for discussion, within Ireland, 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: Ted Hurley, Mícheál Mac an Airchinnigh, and Michel Schellekens. First, we were fortunate in having five internationally-known speakers who gave key-note addresses: Jaco de Bakker, Abbas Edalat, Dick Hamlet, Giorgio Levi, and Dana Scott. Not only did they give fascinating and stimulating talks, but they also represented the main themes of the conference amongst the many possible themes which legitimately fall within the wide scope of its title. We were fortunate also in having a Special Session on Security and Concurrency as part of the conference. This session was undoubtedly a very considerable success in its own right, and our thanks are due to Matthew Hennessy and Mike Mislove who so ably organized it.Thanks are also due to Simon Foley and Michel Schellekens who greatly helped me as members of the local organizing committee, to student helpers Eleanor Clifford and Daithi O'Crualaoich, and special thanks to Pascal Hitzler for sterling work in preparing websites, processing abstracts and for undertaking many other tasks. On the editing side, sincere thanks to all those who refereed the proceedings, and to Professor Mike Mislove for much assistance in preparing final versions of papers. A conference cannot exist, of course, without participants, so our thanks to those who attended, to those who submitted papers and to those who chaired sessions. Thanks too to Michael O'Sullivan, NUI-Cork's Vice-President for Planning, Communications and Development, for opening the meeting.Finally, we wish to acknowledge the support of our sponsors, as follows.The Arts Faculty, NUI, CorkThe Department of Computer Science, NUI, CorkThe Department of Mathematics, NUI, GalwayThe School of Mathematics, Applied Mathematics and Statistics, NUI, CorkEMC Ireland, CorkEnterprise IrelandLogic Programming Associates, LondonThe National Software Directorate, DublinPFH Computers, Cor