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In a society where computers have become ubiquitous, it is necessary to develop a broader understanding of the nature of computing and programming, not just from a technical viewpoint but also from a historical and philosophical perspective. Computers and computer programs do not exist in a vacuum. Instead, they are a part of a rich socio-technological context that provides ways for understanding computers and reasoning about programs. This includes not only formal logic, mathematics, sciences, and technology but also cognitive sciences and sociology. The focus of this special issue is on questions that arise when we consider computing and programming in a wider context. In particular, the papers in this special issue explore the interplay between computing or programming and mathematics, formal logic, sciences, technology, and society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This special issue of Software Tools for Technology Transfer presents extended versions of two selected papers from the 23rd edition of TACAS, the International Conference on Tools and Algorithms for the Construction and Analysis of Systems that took place in April 2017 in Uppsala. The papers included in this special issue concern various aspects of automated design and formal verification; they therefore contribute to the development of more reliable computer systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Model-based approaches to system design are now widespread and successful. These approaches make extensive use of model structure to describe systems using domain-specific abstractions, to specify and implement model transformations, and to analyze structural properties of models. In spite of its general importance the structural semantics of modeling languages are not well-understood. In this paper we develop the formal foundations for the structural semantics of domain-specific modeling languages (DSML), including the mechanisms by which metamodels specify the structural semantics of DSMLs. Additionally, we show how our formalization can complement existing tools, and how it yields algorithms for the analysis of DSMLs and model transformations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]