The Z notation has been developed at the Programming Research Group at
the Oxford University Computing Laboratory and elsewhere for over a
decade. It is now used by industry as part of the software (and
hardware) development process in both Europe and the USA. It is
currently undergoing BSI standardisation in the UK, and has been
proposed for ISO standardisation internationally. In recent years
researchers have begun to focus increasingly on the development of
techniques and tools to encourage the wider application of Z and other
formal methods and notations. This volume contains papers from the
Seventh Annual Z User Meeting, held in London in December 1992. In
contrast to previous years the meeting concentrated specifically on
industrial applications of Z, and a high proportion of the participants
came from an industrial background. The theme is well represented by the
four invited papers. Three of these discuss ways in which formal methods
are being introduced, and the fourth presents an international survey of
industrial applications. It also provides a reminder of the improvements
which are needed to make these methods an accepted part of software
development. In addition the volume contains several submitted papers on
the industrial use of Z, two of which discuss the key area of
safety-critical applications. There are also a number of papers related
to the recently-completed ZIP project. The papers cover all the main
areas of the project including methods, tools, and the development of a
Z Standard, the first publicly-available version of which was made
available at the meeting. Finally the volume contains a select Z
bibliography, and section on how to access information on Z through
comp.specification.z, the international, computer-based USENET
newsgroup. Z User Workshop, London 1992 provides an important
overview of current research into industrial applications of Z, and will
provide invaluable reading for researchers, postgraduate students and
also potential industrial users of Z.
