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Choosing Conferences

I'm trying to choose conferences to attend this summer. In the programming languages department, it looks like PLDI is my best bet. However, being fairly new to the programming languages community, I thought I'd ask a few questions before committing myself.

Hence:

  • Could anyone who has been to PLDI describe a bit about what I might expect if I decide to go?
  • How did the experience compare to any other languages/types/FP conferences you've attended?
  • Are there other conferences that I should be considering (preferably on the North American Eastern Seaboard)?
  • Do any of the language/types conferences have an LtU Birds of a Feather meeting?

Thanks!

By Michael Stone at 2006-03-12 04:35 | LtU Forum | previous forum topic | next forum topic | other blogs | 5817 reads

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PLDI really puts most of its

PLDI really puts most of its emphasis on "I" rather than "D" so expect to find a lot of compiler hackers. Even the functional programming related stuff is more "I" related (e.g., Olin Shiver's tranducer paper). In my experience, these conferences are only fun if you have a lot in common with the attendees, so choose your conferences carefully.

Your best bet is to wait for ICFP at the end of Summer in September. You'll have to fly across the country though (Portland OR, not Portland ME). But its not a bad trip.

By Sean McDirmid at Sun, 2006-03-12 07:34 | login or register to post comments

Same Conclusion

Well, that's what I had gathered after I spent a while looking at the actual papers this year but its nice to have confirmation of the intuition. Thanks!

By Michael Stone at Sun, 2006-03-12 12:55 | login or register to post comments

Oh wow, PLDI 06's in Ottawa.

Does anyone know the procedures for a student who only wants to see the presentations (i.e., I don't want to pay for a room in Ottawa)? [and the amount of $ involved]

Sorry for the semi-OT spammish.

By pkhuong at Sun, 2006-03-12 21:01 | login or register to post comments

My $0.02

The conferences that I enjoy the most tend to be narrowly focused and informal. I always enjoy the annual Erlang conference, the various european Lispmeets, and ACM Erlang workshops. I regret missing the early Lightweight Languages conferences and many Haskell and Scheme ACM workshops.

ECLM 2006 will be great with over 100 Lisp hackers meeting for a long weekend.

By Luke Gorrie at Sun, 2006-03-12 22:27 | login or register to post comments