popl-topic-selection
Use when deciding whether a project is POPL-shaped — a principle about programming languages carried by definitions and theorems — or better aimed at PLDI's implementation bar, OOPSLA's breadth, ICFP's paradigm focus, or LICS, CAV, CPP, ESOP, and journal outlets, judged by what the decisive evidence is.
Profile →npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill popl-topic-selection --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.
# POPL Topic Selection POPL's full name is the routing test: *Principles* of Programming Languages. The venue's center of gravity is a *general truth about languages* — a semantics, a type discipline, a program logic, a proof technique — established by definition and theorem. Both theoretical and experimental papers are welcome under the posted scope, but an experimental POPL paper still orbits a principle. (Scope wording per the POPL series pages, read 2026-07-08.) ## Three questions before committing 1. **What sentence do you most want reviewers to believe?** If it starts "we prove" or "we give a semantics/logic/type system such that ..." — POPL. If it starts "our compiler/analyzer achieves ..." — PLDI. If it starts "developers using our language ..." — OOPSLA. 2. **Could a skeptic check the claim without running anything?** POPL's decisive evidence is re-derivable: proofs, mechanizations, counterexample-freedom by construction. If the truth of your claim lives in measurements, route toward the implementation venues. 3. **Does the idea outlive your artifact?** POPL rewards machinery others can instantiate on their languages. A theorem inseparable from one codebase is a tool paper
- Three questions before committing
- Routing table
- POPL-fit smells, both directions
- Output format
What does the popl-topic-selection skill do?
Use when deciding whether a project is POPL-shaped — a principle about programming languages carried by definitions and theorems — or better aimed at PLDI's implementation bar, OOPSLA's breadth, ICFP's paradigm focus, or LICS, CAV, CPP, ESOP, and journal outlets, judged by what the decisive evidence is.
How do I install it?
Run `npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill popl-topic-selection --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 984 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.