This book presents a collection of research papers that address the challenge of how to develop software in a principled way that, in particular, enables reasoning. The individual papers approach this challenge from various perspectives including programming languages, program verification, and the systematic variation of software. Topics covered include programming abstractions for concurrent and distributed software, specification and verification techniques for imperative programs, and development techniques for software product lines.

With this book the editors and authors wish to acknowledge – on the occasion of his 60th birthday – the work of Arnd Poetzsch-Heffter, who has made major contributions to software technology throughout his career. It features articles on Arnd’s broad research interests including, among others, the implementation of programming languages, formal semantics, specification and verification of object-oriented and concurrent programs, programming language design, distributed systems, software modeling, and software product lines. All contributing authors are leading experts in programming languages and software engineering who have collaborated with Arnd in the course of his career.

Overall, the book offers a collection of high-quality articles, presenting original research results, major case studies, and inspiring visions. Some of the work included here was presented at a symposium in honor of Arnd Poetzsch-Heffter, held in Kaiserslautern, Germany, in November 2018.