This is a volume that contains the proceedings of the second international conference on the Institute of Mathematics and its Application (IMA) on the “Mathematics of Dependable Systems” which took place at the University of York, UK, in September 1995 (MDS 95). This was a conference, which as its name suggests, was concerned with discussing the role of mathematics in the construction of dependable systems. These are considered to be systems with stringent safety, reliability, security and availability requirements. The theme of the conference was considered to be unique since it was not confined to applications of one kind of mathematical theory. Dr Stavridou, the editor of published proceedings, writes in his preface to the volume that:
It celebrates all innovations in the theory and practice of dependable systems which come about through the use of mathematics.
He saw the long‐term objective of the conference to be the harmonisation and the cross‐fertilisation of mathematical theories for the development of safe, secure, reliable and available computing systems.
To achieve this, the conference included ten regular and six invited papers. The contents page of the proceedings lists 15 papers and the reader has to search through the preface to discover which are invited and which papers are “regular”. The book has a list of contributors with their affiliations, but no index. References are given at the end of each published paper and are cited in a numerical form. A full list of references, in alphabetical order is not provided. Abstracts of the contributions are included with the papers and no comprehensive list is published. The only attempt to link the papers in any way is in the editor’s preface where he performs the usual task of only naming authors’ names, with their contribution titles.
Nowhere in the text is there any attempt to link the papers, to comment on them, or to include any of the discussions, which surely must have taken place after each presentation if the conference was any sort of success. Any use of the volume is, therefore, confined to the individual papers which have to be read in isolation with readers making their own cross linkings, if any, and their own subject reference listings. This criticism is not, of course, confined to these proceedings alone, many editors and publishers of “Conference Proceedings” are, it would appear, quite content to bundle up some of the papers by better known authors with little attempt at presenting them in an informative way. In many current conferences we now have the “camera ready” copy produced before the event and the published proceedings available at the meeting. The disks containing the contributions, which are now supplied by the author, are often simply run together to produce what is described as the proceedings. Although the individual papers may be works of scholarship the resulting text can hardly be described as anything other than a collection of pre‐presentations.
There is little doubt about either the standard or the relevance of the papers presented at the MDS 95 conference, even if they have to be assimilated as “stand‐alone” contributions. The conference has obviously benefited from its first meeting and the reader will, on perusing the papers presented at this the second, agree with Dr Stavridou when he says that it was a vibrant one with a provoking, if diverse collection of papers. This reviewer would certainly agree with these sentiments but with the caveats already discussed. Some researchers, however, may not be so pleased that it has taken over two years to publish this work. What progress, for example, has been made by the formal methods community, in key management for secure communication, in software developments, and in many other aspects in the construction of dependable systems? Fortunately, many of the papers are not “time‐dependent” and the role of mathematics not forever changing, so that some of the computing systems discussed are not compromised. The cross‐fertilisation of ideas was obviously achieved and the volume may well have helped to focus on some of the long‐term objectives of the conference organisers. To that end, while individuals might not wish to afford a copy of Dr Stavridou’s edited proceedings, the libraries of any institutions or organisations with an interest in the role of mathematics in the construction of systems should certainly buy one.
