icalp-writing-style
Use when shaping the exposition of an ICALP (EATCS) theory paper — stating the model before the theorem, putting a legible theorem statement and its improvement over prior bounds on the first page, structuring the 15-page body around the argument while full proofs live in the appendix/full version, and meeting the correctness-and-clarity bar of Track A and Track B referees.
Profile →npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill icalp-writing-style --agent claude-code
Same command for any agent — swap --agent for codex, cursor, copilot.
Weekly change comes from our own snapshots, not the repository page — it measures attention, not adoption.
# ICALP Writing Style Build the ICALP skeleton: **model → theorem → improvement → technique → complete proof**. ICALP referees are subject experts who will *check* the mathematics, so the writing has two jobs at once — make the contribution **legible on the first page**, and make the proofs **verifiable** in the body, appendix, and full version. The 15-page body is a hard budget; exposition, not omission, is how you fit. ## The first-page arc 1. **State the model, then the theorem.** Fix the exact setting — the computational model, the complexity measure, the class of objects — *before* the claim. "Fully dynamic, deterministic, worst-case update time" comes before "n^{o(1)}." 2. **Put a legible theorem statement in the abstract.** A specialist should read the abstract and know what you proved and by how much, without opening the proof. 3. **Position against a named prior bound.** State the best previous result and your improvement in the same breath. "The best known bound was X; we give Y" is the ICALP sentence. 4. **Name the barrier and the technique.** Say what obstruction prior work hit and what idea gets past it. Referees reward a clearly identified new technique over an opaque
- The first-page arc
- Track-aware voice
- The 15-page discipline
- Theorems, definitions, and the proof contract
- Upper and lower bounds together
- Anti-patterns (theory-specific)
- Self-check before drafting the body
- Output format
What does the icalp-writing-style skill do?
Use when shaping the exposition of an ICALP (EATCS) theory paper — stating the model before the theorem, putting a legible theorem statement and its improvement over prior bounds on the first page, structuring the 15-page body around the argument while full proofs live in the appendix/full version, and meeting the correctness-and-clarity bar of Track A and Track B referees.
How do I install it?
Run `npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill icalp-writing-style --agent claude-code` — it drops the skill into your project so the agent can pick it up. Swap the --agent value for codex, cursor or copilot if you use one of those.
Where does this skill come from?
From brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills, a repository with 909 stars. We read it straight from the repository tree rather than a submitted listing, so what you see here is what is actually published.
Is a popular skill a good skill?
Not necessarily. Stars measure attention, not adoption — a repository can trend for a week and be abandoned. That is why we show the weekly change from our own snapshots next to the total, instead of a single flattering number.