Editorial, June/July 2014

Hi all,

apologies for the slight delay in the publication of this issue of the newsletter – the summer is a slow period and we have been moving slowly as well  🙂 .

We hope that you are reading the new set of articles in this newsletter while on your way to fascinating Vienna, to attend ICLP 2014. This July, Vienna will become the international center of logic and computation, thanks to the Vienna Summer of Logic event. The event brings together a number of high caliber international conferences, such as CSL, IJCAR, SAT, CAV and, of course, ICLP. Our area editors Michael Leuschel and Tom Schrijvers have prepared an outstanding program, with the precious local help of our friend Thomas Eiter, and under the supervision of our former area editor Manuel Carro. Let’s join all of them in Vienna then! This is also a good chance for visiting the center of Europe and move then to Prague where Torsten Schaub is preparing a great ECAI 2014.

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In this issue, we have a new episode of the strange world our Games & Puzzles area editors Paolo Baldan and Roberto Bruni are designing for us.

Håkan Kjellerstrand introduces us to the Picat system, which is also the subject of Neng-Fa Zhou invited presentation in Vienna. A very hot subject and a source of applications for logic programming.

The ICLP in Vienna will also be the time to reflect about our ALP organization and the directions it should pursue; please bring your fresh ideas to the annual ALP business meeting. For example, some issues that have been concerning us lately include

  • the need for better coordination with other relevant conferences, especially in terms of deadlines
  • the possibility of revisiting the publication model of ICLP (which binds us to the page limitations of TPLP, creates an often artificial distinction between classes of papers)
  • ways of better promoting LP in those areas of the world where it has been loosing ground at the academic level (e.g., the USA)

In the meantime, we hope you will enjoy the new articles and please do not hesitate to send us ideas and submissions!

 

Agostino and Enrico