Book excerpt: Under the same cover, this volume offers both modern and classic papers focusing on real-time systems design and analysis. Rather than focusing in theoretical observations of real-time systems, it is intended for the practical professional who is building real real-time systems. The editor, himself the author of a course on real-time systems, has selected articles to provide a deep exploration of issues raised in his other works. In particular, emphasis is placed on applying practical, but theoretically sound approaches in software engineering rate-monotonic design and analysis, testing and architecting systems for real-time applications.