Applications Analysis: Guest Editor's Introduction

The primary motivHtion behind thi,; special issue stems from a dt>sire to set> how variou,;; ,;;cit>nti,;ts approach tlw task of ,;cientifi(' pro{!ramming. In generaL each scientist must formulate a problem and derivP a solution. The steps in thi,; process are not fixed or prescribed. howevPr. they arP nonetheless somewhat universal. In the Call for Papers for thi,; issue. I asked each author to describe the entire process from problem formulation to thP realization of a solution. Each step in this process can be characterized by a statement. describing the problem. in a notation or language ,;uitable to the current leucl cf abstraction. By way of {!Uidance, the following levels of abstraction were suggested in the Call for Paper,.;. ThesP wen· not enforced. but all the articles rough!~· follow this outline.