Computer chess: Algorithms and heuristics for a deep look into the future -- Algorithms for triangulated terrains -- On the distributed realization of parallel algorithms -- The fundamental problem of database design -- Solving and approximating combinatorial optimization problems (Towards MAX CUT and TSP) -- The computational power of continuous time neural networks -- A foundation for computable analysis -- Towards machines that can think -- Computational complexity of continuous problems -- Path layout in ATM networks -- The mobile agent technology -- Theory and practice in interactionally rich distributed systems -- Configuration-based programming systems -- Automatic generation of parallelizing compilers for object-oriented programming languages from denotational semantics specifications -- A formal software engineering paradigm: From domains via requirements to software - Formal specification & design calculi - -- The whole picture to software process improvement -- Object-oriented design patterns -- Object-oriented DBMS and beyond -- On integration of relational and object-oriented database systems -- From OO through deduction to active databases — ROCK, ROLL & RAP -- An introduction to virtual reality modeling language -- Stepping stones to an information society -- Lower bounds for the virtual path layout problem in ATM networks -- Query processing in temporal evidential databases -- A first approach to temporal predicate locking for concurrency detection in temporal relational databases supporting schema versioning -- Efficient insertion of approximately sorted sequences of items into a dictionary -- High availability support in CORBA environments -- On f-sparse sets in NP - P -- Zero-overhead exception handling using metaprogramming -- The output-store formal translator directed by LR parsing -- Parallel processing on alphas under MATLAB 5 -- PRAM lower bound for element distinctness revisited -- Optimal trees for searching in codebook -- Time optimal self-stabilizing algorithms -- Requirements specification iteratively combined with reverse engineering -- On finite representations of infinite-state behaviours -- Efficient strong sequentiality using replacement restrictions -- Optimal encodings -- Monotonic rewriting automata with a restart operation -- Kahn's fixed-point characterization for linear dynamic networks -- DESAM — Annotated corpus for Czech -- Mobility management in CORBA: A generic implementation of the lifecycle service -- A theory of game trees, based on solution trees -- Approximation algorithms for the vertex bipartization problem -- Optical all-to-all communication for some product graphs (Extended Abstract) -- Parallelizing self-organizing maps.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 24th Seminar on Current Trends in Theory and Practice of Informatics, SOFSEM'97, held in Milovy, Czech Republic, in November 1997. SOFSEM is special in being a mix of a winter school, an international conference, and an advanced workshop meeting the demand for ongoing education in the area of computer science. The volume presents 22 invited contributions by leading experts together with 24 revised contributed papers selected from 63 submissions. The invited presentations are organized in topical sections on foundations, distributed and parallel computing, software engineering and methodology, and databases and information systems.