ICALP and the EATCS turn 50

These days, our colleagues at IRIF are hosting ICALP 2022 in Paris. This is the 49th edition of the ICALP conference, which turns 50 since its first instalment was held in 1972. ICALP was the first conference of the, then newly founded, European Association for Theoretical Computer Science (EATCS).The rest is history and I let any readers this post might have draw their own conclusions on the role that the EATCS and ICALP have played in supporting the development of theoretical computer science. (Admittedly, my opinions on both the EATCS and ICALP are very biased.) 

The scientific programme of ICALP 2022 is mouthwatering as usual, thanks to the work done by the authors of submitted papers, Mikołaj Bojańczyk and David Woodruff (PC chairs), and their PCs. I encourage everyone to read the papers that are being presented at the conference.

The main purpose of this post, however, is to alert the readers of this blog that ICALP 2022 also hosts an exhibition to celebrate EATCS/ICALP at 50 and theoretical computer science at large. If you are in Paris, you can attend the exhibition in person. Otherwise, you can visit it virtually here. (See also the posters in one PDF file.)

I had the honour to take part in the preparation of the material for that exhibition, which was led by Sandrine Cadet and Sylvain Schmitz. I learnt a lot from all the other colleagues in the committee for the exhibition. 

As part of that work, I asked Pierluigi Crescenzi whether he'd be willing to carry out a graph and data mining analysis of ICALP vis-a-vis other major conferences in theoretical computer science based on DBLP data. Pierluigi's work went well beyond the call of duty and is summarised in this presentation. I trust that you'll find the results of the analysis by Pierluigi and three of his students at the Gran Sasso Science Institute very interesting. If you have any suggestions for expanding that analysis further, please write it in the comment section. 

Let me close by wishing the EATCS and ICALP a happy 50th birthday, and a great scientific and social event to all the colleagues who are attending ICALP 2022.