This book offers a comprehensive treatment of the process of constructing computer programs through stepwise resolutions of relational equations. Unlike other books that take a logic-based approach to the topic, the authors derive constructive solutions to these equations by means of programming heuristics, three classes of which are presented in detail: sequence heuristics are used to decompose the specification of an initialization segment and the specification of while loop; iteration heuristics decompose the specification of a while loop into specification of the loop body and the while condition; generalization heuristics generalize a specification so as to strip away unimportant detail and focus on key aspects of the problem that it represents. The authors have taught this course many times over the years, and their experience is wonderfully showcased in this definitive introduction to the subject. Advanced undergraduate and graduate students studying program construction, as well as computer science researchers, will appreciate the texts emphasis on the use of computation in the construction process, reducing the discretionary aspects of programming to their simplest level.

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Ali Mili is at University of Ottawa. Jules Desharnais is at Universite Laval, Quebec.

"This book contains the first steps of a research programme whose developments I will follow with interest."--The Computer Journal

"Well written for the formal structure of the Programs."--Sung Shin, South Dakota State University

"Original both in the material presented and in its way of presenting the material....Contains numerous problems and exercises, which would be useful for a newcomer." --Computing Reviews