Abstract state machines (ASM) sharpen the Church-Turing thesis by the c- sideration of bounded resources for computing devices. They view computations as an evolution of a state. It has been shown that all known models of com- tation can be expressed through speci?c abstract state machines. These models can be given in a representation-independent way. That is one advantage of transferring these models to ASM. The main advantage is, however, to provide a unifying theory to all of these models. At the same time ASM can be re?ned to other ASMs. Stepwise re?nement supports separation of concern during so- ware development and will support component-based construction of systems thus providing a foundation of new computational paradigms such as industrial programming, programming-in-the-large, and programming-in-the-world. ASM 2004 continued the success story of the ASM workshops.
Previous workshops were held in the following European cities: Taormina, Italy (2003); Dagstuhl, Germany (2002); Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain (2001); Monte Verita, Switherland (2000); Toulouse, France (1999); Magdeburg, Germany (1998); Cannes, France (1998, 1997); Paderborn, Germany (1996); and H- burg, Germany (1994). The ASM workshops have had predecessors, e.g., the famous Lipari Summer School in 1993, whose in?uential outcome was the f- damental Lipari Guide.