This volume contains the articles presented at the Fourth InternationallFIP Working Conference on Dependable Computing for Critical Applications held in San Diego, California, on January 4-6, 1994. In keeping with the previous three conferences held in August 1989 at Santa Barbara (USA), in February 1991 at Tucson (USA), and in September 1992 at Mondello (Italy), the conference was concerned with an important basic question: can we rely on computer systems for critical applications? This conference, like its predecessors, addressed various aspects of dependability, a broad term defined as the...