CPP (Conference on Certified Programs and Proofs)

CPP (Conference on Certified Programs and Proofs)
Name	Conference on Certified Programs and Proofs
Abbreviation	CPP
Discipline	Formal methods; Programming languages; Theorem proving
Publisher	Association for Computing Machinery
Country	International
First	2011

CPP (Conference on Certified Programs and Proofs) is an annual academic conference focusing on certified software, mechanized proofs, and proof assistants. The meeting gathers researchers, practitioners, and tool developers from communities around Alan Turing, Edmund Clarke, Tony Hoare, Robin Milner, and John McCarthy-inspired traditions to present work on formal verification, proof-carrying code, and certified compilation. Presenters often bridge lineages associated with Coq, Isabelle/HOL, HOL Light, Lean (proof assistant), and Agda (programming language) toolchains.

History

CPP was established to consolidate threads from earlier venues and workshops that traced roots to events influenced by ACM SIGPLAN, IEEE Computer Society, International Conference on Functional Programming, International Conference on Logic for Programming, Artificial Intelligence, and Reasoning, and Types (conference). Early organizing committees included researchers connected to INRIA, Microsoft Research, Carnegie Mellon University, University of Cambridge, and Stanford University. The conference emerged amid growing interest sparked by milestones such as the CompCert verified compiler, the seL4 microkernel verification, and projects from Princeton University and University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory.

Scope and Topics

CPP covers certified software artifacts, mechanized mathematics, and foundational frameworks drawn from traditions associated with Alonzo Church, Kurt Gödel, Haskell B. Curry, Per Martin-Löf, and Dana Scott. Typical topics intersect with work on type theory, dependent types, program extraction, certified compilation, proof-carrying code, automated theorem proving, and proof automation efforts linked to toolchains such as Coq, Isabelle, Lean, Agda, Twelf, and ACL2. Papers also relate to large-scale verified systems tied to institutions like ETH Zurich, Oxford University, Princeton University, MIT, and University of Oxford.

Organization and Governance

CPP is organized annually under auspices that have included the Association for Computing Machinery and cooperating societies historically associated with ACM SIGLOG and ACM SIGPLAN. Program committees draw experts from Microsoft Research, Amazon Web Services, Google Research, Facebook AI Research, INRIA, Max Planck Society, and major universities such as Harvard University, Yale University, University of Pennsylvania, EPFL, and Imperial College London. Steering committees have included figures connected to J Strother Moore, Geoffrey Roach, and other leaders from verification communities born out of Cornell University and University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign lineages.

Proceedings and Publication Venues

Proceedings have been published in association with ACM digital venues and have appeared in proceedings series consistent with ACM Digital Library practices and indexing by DBLP. Selected papers are sometimes extended for journals such as Journal of the ACM, ACM Transactions on Programming Languages and Systems, Logical Methods in Computer Science, Formal Aspects of Computing, and Mathematical Structures in Computer Science. Workshops colocated with CPP have produced handbooks and special issues linked to editorial boards at Springer, Elsevier, and Cambridge University Press.

Notable Papers and Contributions

CPP has hosted influential contributions such as mechanized proofs of security properties, verified compilation advances inspired by CompCert, formalizations of mathematics in proof assistants reminiscent of efforts at The Freek Thomas Project and institutional projects at Princeton, INRIA, and University of Cambridge. Papers have advanced tactics and automation influenced by SMT solvers like Z3, integrations with Satisfiability Modulo Theories, and certified infrastructure for operating systems and cryptography associated with groups at NICTA, ETH Zurich, SeL4 team, and DARPA-funded programs.

Awards and Committees

CPP recognizes outstanding contributions via best-paper awards and committee distinctions decided by program committees drawn from leading verification researchers affiliated with ACM, IEEE, Royal Society, and national research organizations such as CNRS, DFG, EPSRC, and NSF. Awardees typically represent breakthroughs from labs at Microsoft Research, Google Research, Amazon Science, INRIA, ETH Zurich, and universities including Princeton University and University of Cambridge.

Conferences and Workshops

CPP routinely colocates tutorials and workshops connecting to events such as POPL (conference), ICFP (conference), CADE, IJCAR, Interactive Theorem Proving (ITP), and Automated Deduction (CADE/CADE‑ATP) communities. Local hosts have included institutions in cities with strong formal methods groups, for example Paris, Edinburgh, Boston, San Francisco, and Berlin, often partnering with regional research centers like ENS, University of Edinburgh, and MIT CSAIL.

Impact and Influence on Formal Methods and Programming Languages

CPP has influenced formal-methods practice and programming-language design by promoting certified toolchains, reproducible mechanized proofs, and cross-community standards connecting Coq, Isabelle/HOL, Lean, and Agda ecosystems. The conference advances industrial adoption through links to projects at Microsoft, Amazon, Google, and Intel Research, and shapes curricula at universities such as MIT, Stanford University, UC Berkeley, and University of Cambridge that teach verified software engineering and mechanized reasoning methods.

Category:Academic conferences