Acknowledgements

The drawing up of an interesting programme for the Conference was due to invaluable suggestions of co-chairmen Jack Dongarra and Jerzy Wasniewski and the members of the PVM-MPI'97 Programme Committee.

Each contributed paper has received at least two reviews. I am very grateful to the referees for their effort.

I would like to express gratitude to the Conference sponsors for their financial support.

I would like to thank the invited speakers for extremely interesting tutorials and lectures which presented an overview of diverse important areas of message passing programming.

The Conference was running smoothly thanks to efforts of the session chaimen.

PVM-MPI'97 would not have been possible without the personal involvement and enthusiastic support of Malgorzata Kozlowska, Under-Secretary of State in the State Committee for Scientific Research; Marian Noga, Director of the Academic Computer Centre CYFRONET-KRAKOW, Jacek Moscinski from the Institute of Computer Science of the University of Mining and Metallurgy (AGH), Ryszard Tadeusiewicz, Vice-Rector of the University of Mining and Metallurgy (AGH); and Aleksander Suchanek, Director of the Office for Scientific Research of the University of Mining and Metallurgy (AGH).

I am truly grateful to Prof. Marek Szymonski, Vice-Rector of the Jagiellonian University for his participation in the Opening Ceremony, and to Mr Jozef Lassota, the Mayor of Cracow and Mr Jacek Neumann for invitation of the Conference participants to the Cracow City Hall.

Management and staff of the Continental Hotel, Point Travel Agency and Dom Polonii "Wspolnota Polska" are acknowledged for excellent collaboration.

Warm thanks go to Zofia Mosurska, Milena Zajac and Maria Stawiarska who efficiently solved a number of unsolvable problems. I am also indebted to Teresa Ozga for taking care of the financial side of the Conference as well as to Mieczyslaw Pilipczuk, Danuta Niesiolowska, and Andrzej Ozieblo for their contribution to the organisation of the Conference, and to Stanislaw Polak and Rafal Wcislo for their help in editing the Proceedings.

Finally, I would like to express gratitude to other colleagues from the Academic Computer Centre CYFRONET-KRAKOW and the Institute of Computer Science AGH who assisted in the organisation of PVM-MPI'97.

Marian Bubak