[TYPES/announce] TACAS 2012 Call for Papers

[Cormac Flanagan]

TACAS 2012: 18th International Conference on Tools and Algorithms for
the Construction and Analysis of Systems

http://www.etaps.org/2012/tacas

TACAS is a forum for researchers, developers and users interested in
rigorously based tools and algorithms for the construction and
analysis of systems. The conference serves to bridge the gaps between
different communities that share common interests in, and techniques
for, tool development and its algorithmic foundations. The research
areas covered by such communities include but are not limited to
formal methods, software and hardware verification, static analysis,
programming languages, software engineering, real-time systems,
communications protocols, and biological systems. The TACAS forum
provides a venue for such communities at which common problems,
heuristics, algorithms, data structures and methodologies can be
discussed and explored. In doing so, TACAS aims to support researchers
in their quest to improve the utility, reliability, flexibility and
efficiency of tools and algorithms for building systems.

Tool descriptions and case studies with a conceptual message, as well
as theoretical papers with clear relevance for tool construction are
all encouraged. The specific topics covered by the conference include,
but are not limited to, the following:

   Specification and verification techniques for finite and
infinite-state systems;
   Software and hardware verification;
   Theorem-proving and model-checking;
   System construction and transformation techniques,
   Static and run-time analysis;
   Abstraction techniques for modeling and validation;
   Compositional and refinement-based methodologies;
   Testing and test-case generation;
   Analytical techniques for safety, security, or dependability;
   Analytical techniques for real-time, hybrid, or stochastic systems;
   Integration of formal methods and static analysis in high-level
       hardware design or software environments;
   Tool environments and tool architectures;
   SAT and SMT solvers;
   Applications and case studies.

Competition on Software Verification
------------------------------------

Associated with TACAS '12 there will be a competition on software
verification. TACAS '12 hosts the first such competition event with
the goal to evaluate the technology transfer and compare
state-of-the-art software verifiers with respect to effectiveness and
efficiency. The competition is performed and presented by the TACAS
Competition Chair Dirk Beyer. Successful competition candidates are
granted a demonstration slot for their tool in the TACAS program, and
their contribution paper will be included in the TACAS conference
proceedings.  Important dates and submission

See the common call for papers of ETAPS 2012 at
http://www.etaps.org/2012/call-for-papers.
Submit your paper via the TACAS 2012 author interface of Easychair.


Submission guidelines
---------------------

TACAS will accept the following kinds of submissions:

* Research papers cover one or more of the topics above, including
 tool development and case studies from a perspective of scientific
 research. They have a maximum of 15 pages.

* Case study papers report on case studies (preferably in a "real
 life" setting) are also welcome. They should focus on providing
 sufficiently detailed information about the following aspects: the
 system being studied and why it is of interest, the goals of the
 study, the challenges the system poses to automated analysis,
 research methodologies and the approach used, the degree to which
 goals were attained, and how the results can be generalized to other
 problems and domains. Case study papers have a maximum of 15 pages.

* Regular tool papers present a new tool, a new tool component, or
 novel extensions to an existing tool. They focus primarily on
 engineering aspects, with special emphasis on important design and
 implementation concerns. A thorough discussion of theoretical
 foundations is not required, although the paper should provide with
 a summary of such, with relevant citations. A tool paper should
 describe the tool's software architecture and core data structures
 and algorithms, and also give a clear account of its
 functionality. The paper should discuss the tool's practical
 capabilities with reference to the type and size of problems it can
 handle, and experience with realistic case studies. Papers that
 present extensions to existing tools should clearly focus on the
 improvements or extensions with respect to previously published
 versions of the tool, preferably substantiated by data on
 enhancements in terms of resources and capabilities. Tool papers are
 evaluated by the TACAS Tool Chair with the help of the Programme
 Committee. Tool papers have a maximum of 15 pages.

* Tool demonstration papers present tools based on aforementioned
 technologies (e.g., theorem-proving, model-checking, static
 analysis, or other formal methods) or falling into relevant
 application areas (e.g., system construction and transformation,
 testing, analysis of real-time, hybrid or biological systems, etc.)
 and focus on the usage aspects of the tool. Tool demonstration
 papers are evaluated by the TACAS Tool Chair with the help of the
 Programme Committee. Tools presented in tool demonstration papers
 must be publicly available. Tool demo papers have a maximum of 6
 pages.

Submitted papers in all categories must:

* be in English,
* present original research which is unpublished and not submitted
 elsewhere (conferences or journals) - in particular, simultaneous
 submission of the same contribution to multiple ETAPS conferences is
 forbidden,
* use the Springer LNCS style,
* fit within the page limit, including figures and bibliography
 (papers may include an optional appendix containing ancillary
 material such as proofs, but TACAS referees are at liberty to ignore
 appendices, and
* be submitted electronically in pdf via the TACAS 2012 Easychair
author interface.

Invited speaker
---------------
Holger Hermanns (Univ. of Saarland, Germany)

Programme chairs
----------------
Cormac Flanagan (Univ. of California at Santa Cruz, USA)
Barbara König (Univ. of Duisburg-Essen,Germany)

Programme committee
-------------------
Rajeev Alur (Univ. of Pennsylvania, USA)
Armin Biere ( Johannes Kepler Univ., Austria)
Alessandro Cimatti (FBK-irst, Italy) (Tool chair)
Rance Cleaveland (Univ. of Maryland and Fraunhofer USA, USA)
Giorgio Delzanno (Univ. of Genova, Italy)
Javier Esparza (Techn. Univ. of Munich, Germany)
Patrice Godefroid (Microsoft Research, Redmond, USA)
Susanne Graf (Verimag, France)
Orna Grumberg (Technion, Israel)
Aarti Gupta (NEC Labs, USA)
Michael Huth (Imperial College London, UK)
Ranjit Jhala (Univ. of California at San Diego, USA)
Vineet Kahlon (Univ. of Texas at Austin, USA)
Daniel Kroening (Univ. of Oxford, UK)
Marta Kwiatkowska (Univ. of Oxford, UK)
Kim G. Larsen (Aalborg Univ., Denmark)
Rustan Leino (Microsoft Research, Redmond, USA)
Matteo Maffei (Univ. of Saarland, Germany)
Ken McMillan (Cadence Berkeley Labs, USA)
Doron Peled (Bar Ilan University, Israel)
Anna Philippou (Univ. of Cyprus)
Arend Rensink (Univ. of Twente, Netherlands)
Andrey Rybalchenko (Techn. Univ. of Munich, Germany)
Stefan Schwoon (ENS Cachan, France)
Bernhard Steffen (Techn. Univ. of Dortmund, Germany)
Serdar Tasiran (Koc University, Turkey)
Lenore Zuck (Univ. of Illinois at Chicago, USA)