Planar point location revisited (A guided tour of a decade of research) -- Computing a viewpoint of a set of points inside a polygon -- Analysis of preflow push algorithms for maximum network flow -- A new linear algorithm for the two path problem on chordal graphs -- Extending planar graph algorithms to K 3,3-free graphs -- Constant-space string-matching -- Inherent nonslicibility of rectangular duals in VLSI floorplanning -- Path planning with local information -- Linear broadcast routing -- Predicting deadlock in store-and-forward networks -- On parallel sorting and addition with concurrent writes -- An optimal parallel algorithm for sorting presorted files -- Superlinear speedup in parallel state-space search -- Circuit definitions of nondeterministic complexity classes -- Non-uniform proof systems: A new framework to describe non-uniform and probabilistic complexity classes -- Padding, commitment and self-reducibility -- The complexity of a counting finite-state automaton -- A hierarchy theorem for pram-based complexity classes -- A natural deduction treatment of operational semantics -- Uniformly applicative structures, a theory of computability and polyadic functions -- A proof technique for register atomicity -- Relation level semantics -- A constructive set theory for program development -- McCarthy's amb cannot implement fair merge -- GHC — A language for a new age of parallel programming -- Accumulators: New logic variable abstractions for functional languages -- A resolution rule for well-formed formulae -- Algebraic and operational semantics of positive/negative conditional algebraic specifications -- Semi-unification -- A method to check knowledge base consistency -- Knowledgebases as structured theories -- On functional independencies -- A generic algorithm for transaction processing during network partitioning.

This volume contains the proceedings of the 8th Conference on Foundations of Software Technology and Theoretical Computer Science held in Pune, India, on December 21-23, 1988. This internationally well-established Indian conference series provides a forum for actively investigating the interface between theory and practice of Software Science. It also gives an annual occasion for interaction between active research communities in India and abroad. Besides attractive invited papers the volume contains carefully reviewed submitted papers on the following topics: Automata and Formal Languages, Graph Algorithms and Geometric Algorithms, Distributed Computing, Parallel Algorithms, Database Theory, Logic Programming, Programming Methodology, Theory of Algorithms, Semantics and Complexity.