A compilation of 34 papers from the workshops First-Principles, Tight- Binding, and Empirical Methods for Materials Simulation (Chemnitz, 1996) and Massively Parallel and Superscalar Applications in Computational Materials Science (Paderborn, 1998). Among the methods they consider are choosing models for solids, the periodic Hartree- Fock method and its implementation in the Crystal Code, and the concurrent coupling of length scales in solid state systems. The applications described include ab-initio Monto Carlo investigations of small lithium clusters, linear-response studies of the electron-phonon interaction in metals, and semiconductor nanostructures. The disk contains support material.