stoc-topic-selection
Use when deciding whether a result belongs at STOC (ACM Symposium on Theory of Computing) — testing for broad theory-of-computation significance versus routing to FOCS, SODA, CCC, ITCS, COLT, CRYPTO, PODC, SoCG, EC, or a journal like JACM/SICOMP when the fit is specialized, conceptual, or empirical.
Profile →npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill stoc-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.
# STOC Topic Selection STOC is ACM SIGACT's flagship for the theory of computation: algorithms and data structures, computational complexity, cryptography, combinatorial and continuous optimization, learning theory, quantum computing, algorithmic game theory, coding theory, and the theory sides of adjacent fields (scope sentence paraphrased from the STOC 2026 CFP, checked 2026-07-08; re-read the live topics list before arguing fit). The question this skill answers is not "is this theory?" but "is this *flagship-general* theory?" — because the venue's distinguishing filter is breadth of interest across a cross-area committee. ## The breadth test Ask three questions; STOC-shaped results pass at least two convincingly: 1. **The corridor test.** Could you explain to a theorist in a *different* sub-area, in three minutes, why this changes something they care about? 2. **The lineage test.** Does the result advance a problem the field at large has tracked (a named open problem, a long-standing bound, a barrier), rather than a parameterized variant introduced by the last three papers on it? 3. **The technique test.** Is there a transferable idea another sub-area could plausibly borrow? Fai
- The breadth test
- Routing map
- Aiming a result at STOC honestly
- Anti-patterns in venue choice
- Prize-lineage calibration
- Decision procedure
- Cycle-volatility warnings
- Output format
What does the stoc-topic-selection skill do?
Use when deciding whether a result belongs at STOC (ACM Symposium on Theory of Computing) — testing for broad theory-of-computation significance versus routing to FOCS, SODA, CCC, ITCS, COLT, CRYPTO, PODC, SoCG, EC, or a journal like JACM/SICOMP when the fit is specialized, conceptual, or empirical.
How do I install it?
Run `npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill stoc-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.