Bauer's early work involved constructing computing machinery (e.g. the logical relay computer STANISLAUS from 1951 to 1955 His scientific contributions spread from
numerical analysis (
Bauer–Fike theorem) and fundamentals of interpretation and translation of programming languages, to his later works on systematics of program development, especially
program transformation methods and systems (CIP-S) and the associated
wide-spectrum language system CIP-L. He also wrote a well-respected book on
cryptology,
Decrypted secrets, now in its fourth edition. He was the
doctoral advisor of 39 students, including
Rudolf Berghammer,
Manfred Broy,
David Gries, Manfred Paul, Gerhard Seegmüller,
Josef Stoer,
Peter Wynn, and
Christoph Zenger. Friedrich Bauer was one of the 19 founding members of the
German Informatics Society. He was editor of the
Informatik Spektrum from its founding in 1978, and held that position until his death. Friedrich Bauer was married to Hildegard Bauer-Vogg. He was the father of three sons and two daughters. == Definition of software engineering ==