The books in this trilogy capture the foundational core of advanced informatics. The authors
make the foundations accessible enabling students to become effective problem solvers. This
first volume establishes the inductive approach as a fundamental principle for system and
domain analysis. After a brief introduction to the elementary mathematical structures such as
sets propositional logic relations and functions the authors focus on the separation
between syntax (representation) and semantics (meaning) and on the advantages of the
consistent and persistent use of inductive definitions. They identify compositionality as a
feature that not only acts as a foundation for algebraic proofs but also as a key for more
general scalability of modeling and analysis. A core principle throughout is invariance which
the authors consider a key for the mastery of change whether in the form of extensions
transformations or abstractions. This textbook is suitable for undergraduate and graduate
courses in computer science and for self-study. Most chapters contain exercises and the content
has been class-tested over many years in various universities.
