This book gives a broad overview of core topics of finite model theory:
expressive power, descriptive complexity, and zero-one laws, together
with selected applications to database theory and artificial
intelligence, especially, constraint databases and constraint
satisfaction problems. The final chapter provides a concise modern
introduction to modal logic, which emphasizes the continuity in spirit
and technique with finite model theory. Students of logic and computer
science will find here the tools necessary to embark on research in
finite model theory, and all readers will experience the excitement of a
vibrant area of application of logic to computer science.