Certified Programs and Proofs

CPP 2021


Theoretical Computer Science



Certified Programs and Proofs (CPP) is an international conference on practical and theoretical topics in all areas that consider formal verification and certification as an essential paradigm for their work. CPP spans areas of computer science, mathematics, logic, and education.
CPP 2021 will be held on 18-19 January 2021 and will be co-located with POPL 2021. CPP 2021 is sponsored by ACM SIGPLAN, in cooperation with ACM SIGLOG.
### News
- Due to the COVID-19 situation, it is currently uncertain whether CPP 2021 will be a physical conference in Copenhagen, Denmark or a virtual one.
- The submission deadline is one month earlier than usual.
### Important Dates
- Abstract Deadline: 16 September 2020 at 23:59 AoE (UTC-12h)
- Paper Submission Deadline: 22 September 2020 at 23:59 AoE (UTC-12h)
- Notification (tentative): 19 November 2020
- Camera Ready Deadline (tentative): 10 December 2020
- Conference: 18-19 January 2021
Deadlines expire at the end of the day, anywhere on earth. Abstract and submission deadlines are strict and there will be **no extensions**.
### Topics of Interest
We welcome submissions in research areas related to formal certification of programs and proofs. The following is a non-exhaustive list of topics of interest to CPP:
- certified or certifying programming, compilation, linking, OS kernels, runtime systems, security monitors, and hardware;
- certified mathematical libraries and mathematical theorems;
- proof assistants (e.g, ACL2, Agda, Coq, Dafny, F*, HOL4, HOL Light, Idris, Isabelle, Lean, Mizar, Nuprl, PVS, etc);
- new languages and tools for certified programming;
- program analysis, program verification, and program synthesis;
- program logics, type systems, and semantics for certified code;
- logics for certifying concurrent and distributed systems;
- mechanized metatheory, formalized programming language semantics, and logical frameworks;
- higher-order logics, dependent type theory, proof theory, logical systems, separation logics, and logics for security;
- verification of correctness and security properties;
- formally verified blockchains and smart contracts;
- certificates for decision procedures, including linear algebra, polynomial systems, SAT, SMT, and unification in algebras of interest;
- certificates for semi-decision procedures, including equality, first-order logic, and higher-order unification;
- certificates for program termination;
- formal models of computation;
- mechanized (un)decidability and computational complexity proofs;
- formally certified methods for induction and coinduction;
- integration of interactive and automated provers;
- logical foundations of proof assistants;
- applications of AI and machine learning to formal certification;
- user interfaces for proof assistants and theorem provers;
- teaching mathematics and computer science with proof assistants.
### Submission Guidelines
Prior to the paper submission deadline, the authors should upload their **anonymized** paper in PDF format through the HotCRP system at https://cpp2021.hotcrp.com
The submissions must be written in English and provide sufficient detail to allow the program committee to assess the merits of the contribution. They must be formatted following the [ACM SIGPLAN Proceedings](http://www.sigplan.org/Resources/Author/) format using the `acmart` style with the `sigplan` option, which provides a two-column style, using 10 point font for the main text, and a header for **double blind review submission**, i.e.,
```
\documentclass[sigplan,10pt,anonymous,review]{acmart}\settopmatter{printfolios=true,printccs=false,printacmref=false}
```
The submitted papers should not exceed 12 pages, including tables and figures, but **excluding bibliography and clearly marked appendices**. The papers should be self-contained without the appendices. Shorter papers are welcome and will be given equal consideration. Submissions not conforming to the requirements concerning format and maximum length may be rejected without further consideration.
CPP 2021 will employ a **lightweight double-blind reviewing process**. To facilitate this, the submissions must adhere to two rules:
1. author names and institutions must be omitted, and
2. references to authors' own related work should be in the third person (e.g., not "We build on our previous work …" but rather “We build on the work of …").
The purpose of this process is to help the PC and external reviewers come to an initial judgment about the paper without bias, not to make it impossible for them to discover the authors if they were to try. Nothing should be done in the name of anonymity that weakens the submission or makes the job of reviewing it more difficult. In particular, important background references should not be omitted or anonymized. In addition, authors are free to disseminate their ideas or draft versions of their papers as usual. For example, authors may post drafts of their papers on the web or give talks on their research ideas. POPL has answers to frequently asked questions addressing many common concerns: https://popl20.sigplan.org/track/POPL-2020-Research-Papers#Submission-and-Reviewing-FAQ
We encourage the authors to provide any supplementary material that is required to support the claims made in the paper, such as proof scripts or experimental data. This material must be uploaded at submission time, as an archive, not via a URL. Two forms of supplementary material may be submitted:
- Anonymous supplementary material is made available to the reviewers before they submit their first-draft reviews.
- Non-anonymous supplementary material is made available to the reviewers after they have submitted their first-draft reviews and have learned the identity of the authors.
Please use anonymous supplementary material whenever possible, so that it can be taken into account from the beginning of the reviewing process.
The submitted papers must adhere to the [SIGPLAN Republication Policy] and the [ACM Policy on Plagiarism]. Concurrent submissions to other conferences, journals, workshops with proceedings, or similar forums of publication are not allowed. The PC chairs should be informed of closely related work submitted to a conference or journal in advance of submission.
[SIGPLAN Republication Policy]: https://www.sigplan.org/Resources/Policies/Republication/
[ACM Policy on Plagiarism]: https://www.acm.org/publications/policies/plagiarism
One author of each accepted paper is expected to present it at the (possibly virtual) conference.
### Publication, Copyright, and Open Access
The CPP proceedings will be published by the ACM, and authors of accepted papers will be required to choose one of the following publication options:
1. Author retains copyright of the work and grants ACM **a non-exclusive permission-to-publish license** and, optionally, licenses the work under a Creative Commons license.
2. Author retains copyright of the work and grants ACM **an exclusive permission-to-publish license**.
3. Author **transfers copyright** of the work to ACM.
For authors who can afford it, we recommend option 1, which will make the paper **Gold Open Access**, and also encourage such authors to license their work under the CC-BY license. ACM will charge you an article processing fee for this option (currently, US$700), which you have to pay directly with the ACM.
For everyone else, we recommend option 2, which is free and allows you to achieve **Green Open Access**, by uploading a preprint of your paper to a repository that guarantees permanent archival such as [arXiv] or [HAL]. This is anyway a good idea for **timely dissemination** even if you chose option 1. Ensuring timely dissemination is particularly important for this edition, since, because of the very tight schedule, the official proceedings might not be available in time for CPP.
[arXiv]: https://arxiv.org
[HAL]: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr
The official CPP 2021 proceedings will also be available via [SIGPLAN OpenTOC].
[SIGPLAN OpenTOC]: http://www.sigplan.org/OpenTOC/#cpp
For ACM's take on this, see their [Copyright Policy] and [Author Rights].
[Copyright Policy]: http://www.acm.org/publications/policies/copyright-policy
[Author Rights]: http://authors.acm.org/main.html
### Contact
For any questions please contact the two PC chairs:
[Catalin Hritcu](mailto:catalin.hritcu@gmail.com) and
[Andrei Popescu](mailto:andrei.h.popescu@gmail.com)