A few take away points

A few take-away points of ASPLOS 2014, at least in the eyes of a first-time attendee:

1. Quality of publications is indeed top-notch

2. Topic diversity is wilder than you 'd realize by reading the program

3. The lightning-presentation round is very fun indeed, and at least helps set the presentation expectations

4. Dual tracking is just fine; perhaps I was lucky, but I was able to catch almost every talk I wanted to attend

5. There is a great level of energy in the conference; new ideas are born here, I guess new collaborations too

6. The WACI session was fun --- memorable stand-up delivery by Michael Wei

7. I seriously suspect people made a mistake and voted NO when they wanted to vote YES in the Wednesday morning debate of whether heterogeneity is the future. Seriously people. 2 best paper awards on heterogeneous systems, awesome works and presentations in that session (cough cough, I presented there, cough cough) why won't you get the hint?   :)

8. Curling is not as bad as it looks on TV. It is actually fun. It's kind of like bowling, but more fun, and it can actually give you a good workout
9. At the same time, it was great to see snow far in the mountains (nice landscape at SLC by the way) but not in the city. That is the way things should be.
10. Nothing here. Just needed to reach number 10 because I went past 8.

A few follow-up thoughts: 

If you 've never been to ASPLOS, it is totally worth attending --- especially as a student. Though all publications at this level are the product of long and strenuous effort, attending a top-tier conference also brings this work down to earth. As you attend the talks and sync with (other) authors and attendees, your mind is spinning with new or revitalized or clarified ideas. The authors are there, they 'll be happy to brag about their work, you just ask them and get what you need to go back to your drawing board. It is through this process that research moves forward and stays at this high quality level.

Second, organizationally, it is hard to realize the effort invested in making a conference successful until you witness it. The program committee chair, Sarita Adve, explained the reviewing process in detail on Tuesday, and it was crystal clear that a great effort had been put to select the best work. But, beyond that, experiencing a generally stress-free time throughout the conference was possible thanks to an army of people (including students from the University of Utah) that helped with organizational details. Thanks to all of them.

That's about all I can think of. Great work by everyone at ASPLOS14. Looking forward to a repeat :)