SIGLOG: Special Interest Group on Logic and Computation A Proposal

Natarajan Shankar

Computer Science Laboratory SRI International Menlo Park, CA

Mar 21, 2014 SIGLOG: Executive Summary

Logic is, and will continue to be, a central topic in computing. ACM has a core constituency with an interest in Logic and Computation (L&C), witnessed by 1 The many Turing Awards for work centrally in L&C 2 The ACM journal Transactions on Computational Logic 3 Several long-running conferences like LICS, CADE, CAV, ICLP, RTA, CSL, TACAS, and MFPS, and super-conferences like FLoC and ETAPS SIGLOG explores the connections between logic and computing covering theory, semantics, analysis, and synthesis. SIGLOG delivers value to its membership through the coordination of conferences, journals, newsletters, awards, and educational programs. SIGLOG enjoys significant synergies with several existing SIGs.

Natarajan Shankar SIGLOG 2/9 Logic and Computation: Early Foundations

Logicians like , Kurt G¨odel, Alan Turing, John von Neumann, and Stephen Kleene have played a pioneering role in laying the foundation of computing.

In the last 65 years, logic has become the calculus of computing underpinning the foundations of many diverse sub-fields.

Natarajan Shankar SIGLOG 3/9 Logic and Computation: Turing Awardees

Turing awardees for logic-related work include John McCarthy, Edsger Dijkstra, Dana Scott Michael Rabin, Tony Hoare Steve Cook, Robin Milner Amir Pnueli, Ed Clarke Allen Emerson Joseph Sifakis Leslie Lamport

Natarajan Shankar SIGLOG 4/9 Interaction between SIGLOG and other SIGs

Logic interacts in a significant way with AI (SIGAI), theory of computation (SIGACT), databases (SIGMOD) and knowledge bases (SIGKDD), programming languages (SIGPLAN), software engineering (SIGSOFT), computational biology (SIGBio), symbolic computing (SIGSAM), semantic web (SIGWEB), and hardware design (SIGDA and SIGARCH).

SIGDA SIGACT SIGAI

SIGBIO SIGKDD

SIGLOG

SIGSAM SIGMOD

SIGSOFT SIGPLAN SIGWEB

Natarajan Shankar SIGLOG 5/9 The L&C Community

L&C is partly covered by Volume B of the Handbook of Theoretical . L&C conferences include LICS, CAV, ICLP, RTA, CADE/IJCAR, CSL, TACAS, SAT, and MFPS. L&C journals include ACM ToCL, Theoretical Computer Science, LMCS, FMSD, Science of Programming, and JAR. The Federated Logic Conference has been running since 1996 — 1200–1500 people are expected to take part in FLoC 2014 in Vienna. We estimate the size of the SIGLOG community to be over 2000, with a substantial presence in Europe. By examining the numbers for SIGACT and SIGPLAN, we expect SIGLOG membership to reach around 500 within five years. We plan a session on SIGLOG at FLoC 2014 to kickstart the agenda and begin recruiting members.

Natarajan Shankar SIGLOG 6/9 SIGLOG activities

Sponsorship of conferences, e.g., LICS and MFPS. Awards: Establish awards, criteria, and juries. Education Committee: Make recommendations for undergraduate and graduate courses and programs. Publicity Committee: Oversee website, newsletter, and other forms of dissemination Membership Committee: Recruit members across the globe. Conference Committee: Coordinate conferences and events. Web page: Disseminate information about the activities of SIGLOG. Newsletter: Publish information relevant to the SIGLOG community. Advisory role with ToCL and conferences Liaison with other SIGs and other organizations

Natarajan Shankar SIGLOG 7/9 Officers

The L&C community has been running several major events 30+ years purely on volunteer effort. The current slate of office-bearers is: Chair: Prakash Panangaden, McGill Vice-Chair: Luke Ong, Oxford (LICS Organizing Committee Chair) Secretary: Alexandra Silva, Radboud University Treasurer: Natarajan Shankar, SRI Members: Catuscia Palamidessi (INRIA Saclay), Anuj Dawar (Cambridge), Luca Aceto (Reykjavik). Advisory Council: (Rice, EiC CACM), Dale Miller (ex officio, EiC of ToCL, INRIA Saclay) Newsletter: Andre Murawski, Prakash Panangaden Web page: Alexandra Silva A By-Laws document has been drafted.

Natarajan Shankar SIGLOG 8/9 Conclusions

ACM SIGLOG will serve the needs of a significant and growing international community of researchers. The Logic and Computing community already has a strong tradition of volunteerism, and strong connections to other SIG communities. The SIGLOG proposal has already been enthusiastically received within the Logic and Computing community. A draft budget prepared by Prakash Panangaden, with help from Darren Ramdin, shows SIGLOG to be on a “solid footing”. We look forward to recruiting members at the Federated Logic Conference/Vienna Summer of Logic in July 2014.

Natarajan Shankar SIGLOG 9/9