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Clive L. N. Ruggles.
Formal Methods in Standards: a report from the BCS Working Group.
Springer. 1990

The broad scope of Formal Methods in Standards makes this book of value to all developers and users of IT standards, to researchers working on formal aspects of computing, to software developers – in fact, to anyone interested in formal methods and their role in software engineering.

Formal methods are rapidly increasing in importance in software development and are the equivalent in software engineering of long-established techniques of applied mathematics in other fields of engineering. Standards are important for industry at large, and for software development in particular, promoting consistent quality and economic production.

Formal Methods in Standards brings together for the first time an overview of the development and expression of standards in information technology, and an outline survey of formal methods, together with case studies, issues and guidelines relating to the introduction of formal methods into standards. The case studies span four widely differing application areas: programming languages, document structure, graphics, and open systems interconnection.

There is an extensive bibliography and a substantial glossary of formal methods terminology.

This report was produced by the Formal Methods in Standards Working Group of the British Computer Society. This group was set up to promote the practical application of formal methods in improving the quality of standards used in computer systems and software.

Clive L. N. Ruggles, Amanda Chadburn.
Stonehenge: sighting the sun.
Historic England. 2024

Stonehenge is one of the most famous ancient monuments in the world and its solar alignment is one of its most important features. Yet although archaeologists have learned a huge amount about this iconic monument and its development, a sense of mystery continues about its purpose. This helps fuel numerous theories and common misconceptions, particularly concerning its relationship to the sky and the heavenly bodies. A desire to cut through this confusion was the inspiration for this book, and it fills a gaping hole in the existing literature.

The book provides both an introduction to Stonehenge and its landscape and an introduction to archaeoastronomy – the study of how ancient peoples understood phenomena in the sky, and what role the sky played in their cultures. Archaeoastronomy is a specialism critical to explaining the relationship of Stonehenge and nearby monuments to the heavens, but interpreting archaeoastronomical evidence has often proved highly controversial in the past. Stonehenge: Sighting the Sun explains why. It makes clear which ideas about Stonehenge are generally accepted and which are not, with clear graphics to explain complicated concepts.

This beautifully illustrated book shines new light on this most famous of ancient monuments, and is the first in-depth study of this fascinating topic suitable both for specialists and for anyone with a general interest.