Concurrency and distribution have become the dominant paradigm and concern in computer science. Despite the fact that much of the early research in object-oriented programming focused on sequential systems, objects are a natural unit of distribution and concurrency - as elucidated early on by research on the Actor model. Thus, models and theories of concurrency, the oldest one being Petri nets, and their relation to objects are an attractive topic of study. This book presents state-of-the-art results on Petri nets and concurrent object-oriented programming in a coherent and competent way. The 24 thoroughly reviewed and revised papers are organized in three sections. The first consists of long papers, each presenting a detailed approach to integrating Petri nets and object-orientation. Section II includes shorter papers with emphasis on concrete examples to demonstrate the approach. Finally, section III is devoted to papers which significantly build on the Actor model of computation.

Concurrency and distribution have become the dominant paradigm and concern in computer science. Despite the fact that much of the early research in object-oriented programming focused on sequential systems, objects are a natural unit of distribution and concurrency - as elucidated early on by research on the Actor model. Thus, models and theories of concurrency, the oldest one being Petri nets, and their relation to objects are an attractive topic of study. This book presents state-of-the-art results on Petri nets and concurrent object-oriented programming in a coherent and competent way. The 24 thoroughly reviewed and revised papers are organized in three sections. The first consists of long papers, each presenting a detailed approach to integrating Petri nets and object-orientation. Section II includes shorter papers with emphasis on concrete examples to demonstrate the approach. Finally, section III is devoted to papers which significantly build on the Actor model of computation.

\My tailor is Object-Oriented". Most software systems that have been built - cently are claimed to be Object-Oriented. Even older software systems that are still in commercial use have been upgraded with some OO ?avors. The range of areas where OO can be viewed as a \must-have" feature seems to be as large as the number of elds in computer science. If we stick to one of the original views of OO, that is, to create cost-e ective software solutions through modeling ph- ical abstractions, the application of OO to any eld of computer science does indeed make sense. There are OO programming languages, OO operating s- tems, OO databases, OO speci cations, OO methodologies, etc. So what does a conference on Object-Oriented Programming really mean? I honestly don’t know. What I do know is that, since its creation in 1987, ECOOP has been attracting a large number of contributions, and ECOOP conferences have ended up with high-quality technical programs, featuring interesting mixtures of theory and practice. Among the 183 initial submissions to ECOOP’99, 20 papers were selected for inclusion in the technical program of the conference. Every paper was reviewed by three to ve referees. The selection of papers was carried out during a t- day program committee meeting at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne. Papers were judged according to their originality, presentation qu- ity, and relevance to the conference topics.

Concurrency and distribution have become the dominant paradigm and concern in computer science. Despite the fact that much of the early research in object-oriented programming focused on sequential systems, objects are a natural unit of distribution and concurrency - as elucidated early on by research on the Actor model. Thus, models and theories of concurrency, the oldest one being Petri nets, and their relation to objects are an attractive topic of study. This book presents state-of-the-art results on Petri nets and concurrent object-oriented programming in a coherent and competent way. The 24 thoroughly reviewed and revised papers are organized in three sections. The first consists of long papers, each presenting a detailed approach to integrating Petri nets and object-orientation. Section II includes shorter papers with emphasis on concrete examples to demonstrate the approach. Finally, section III is devoted to papers which significantly build on the Actor model of computation.

Petri Nets were introduced in the doctoral dissertation by K.A. Petri, titled "Kommunikation mit Automaten" and published in 1962 by University of Bonn. Petri Nets are graphical (the intuitive graphical modeling language) and mathematical (advanced formal analysis method) tool. The concurrence of performed actions is the natural phenomenon due to which Petri Nets are perceived as mathematical tool for modeling concurrent systems. The main idea of this theory was modified by many researchers according to their needs, owing to the unusual "flexibility" of this theory. The present monograph focuses on Petri Nets applications in two main areas: manufacturing (section 1) and computer science (section 2). These two areas have still huge influence on our lives and our world. The theory of Petri Nets is still developing: some directions of investigations are presented in section 3. And at the end there is section 4 including some infesting facts concerning application of Petri Nets in the public area: the analysis and control of public bicycle sharing systems. The monograph shows the results of research works performed with use of Petri Nets in science centers all over the world.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 20th International Conference on Application and Theory of Petri Nets, ICATPN'99, held in Williamsburg, Virginia, USA, in June 1999. The 21 revised full papers presented were carefully selected from 45 submissions. Also included are three invited presentations. The book presents state-of-the-art research results on all current aspects of Petri nets as well as advanced applications in a variety of areas.

This tutorial volume originates from the 4th Advanced Course on Petri Nets, ACPN 2003, held in Eichsttt, Germany in September 2003. In addition to lectures given at ACPN 2003, additional chapters have been commissioned to give a well-balanced presentation of the state of the art in the area. This book will be useful as both a reference for those working in the area as well as a study book for the reader who is interested in an up-to-date overview of research and development in concurrent and distributed systems; of course, readers specifically interested in theoretical or applicational aspects of Petri nets will appreciate the book as well.