This book presents a coherent description of the theoretical and practical aspects of Coloured Petri Nets (CP-nets or CPN). It shows how CP-nets have been de­ veloped - from being a promising theoretical model to being a full-fledged lan­ guage for the design, specification, simulation, validation and implementation of large software systems (and other systems in which human beings and/or com­ puters communicate by means of some more or less formal rules). The book contains the formal definition of CP-nets and the mathematical theory behind their analysis methods. However, it has been the intention to write the book in such a way that it also becomes attractive to readers who are more interested in applications than the underlying mathematics. This means that a large part of the book is written in a style which is closer to an engineering textbook (or a users' manual) than it is to a typical textbook in theoretical computer science. The book consists of three separate volumes. The first volume defines the net model (i. e. , hierarchical CP-nets) and the basic concepts (e. g. , the different behavioural properties such as deadlocks, fair­ ness and home markings). It gives a detailed presentation of many small exam­ ples and a brief overview of some industrial applications. It introduces the for­ mal analysis methods. Finally, it contains a description of a set of CPN tools which support the practical use of CP-nets.