POPL 2026
Sun 11 - Sat 17 January 2026 Rennes, France
Fri 16 Jan 2026 15:15 - 15:40 at Nef - Probabilistic Programming Chair(s): Michele Pagani

In the last few years there has been a growing interest towards methods for statistical inference and learning based on computational geometry and, notably, tropical geometry, that is, the study of algebraic varieties over the min-plus semiring. At the same time, recent work has demonstrated the possibility of interpreting higher-order probabilistic programming languages in the framework of tropical mathematics, by exploiting algebraic and categorical tools coming from the semantics of linear logic. In this work we combine these two worlds, showing that tools and ideas from tropical geometry can be used to perform statistical inference over higher-order probabilistic programs. Notably, we first show that each such program can be associated with a degree and a n-dimensional polyhedron that encode its most likely runs. Then, we use these tools in order to design an intersection type system that estimates most likely runs in a compositional and efficient way.

Fri 16 Jan

Displayed time zone: Brussels, Copenhagen, Madrid, Paris change

14:00 - 15:40
Probabilistic ProgrammingPOPL at Nef
Chair(s): Michele Pagani ENS Lyon
14:00
25m
Talk
Optimising Density Computations in Probabilistic Programs via Automatic Loop Vectorisation
POPL
Sangho Lim KAIST, Hyoungjin Lim KAIST, Wonyeol Lee POSTECH, Xavier Rival Inria - CNRS - Ecole Normale Superieure de Paris - PSL University, Hongseok Yang KAIST
DOI
14:25
25m
Talk
Probabilistic Concurrent Reasoning in Outcome Logic: Independence, Conditioning, and InvariantsDistinguished Paper
POPL
Noam Zilberstein Cornell University, Alexandra Silva Cornell University, Joseph Tassarotti New York University
DOI
14:50
25m
Talk
Probabilistic Programming with Vectorized Programmable InferenceRemote
POPL
McCoy Reynolds Becker MIT, Mathieu Huot MIT, George Matheos Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Xiaoyan Wang Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Karen Chung Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Colin Smith Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sam Ritchie Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Rif A. Saurous Google, Alexander K. Lew Yale University, Martin C. Rinard Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Vikash K. Mansinghka Massachusetts Institute of Technology
DOI
15:15
25m
Talk
Tropical Mathematics and the Lambda-Calculus II: Tropical Geometry of Probabilistic Programming Languages
POPL
Davide Barbarossa University of Bath, Paolo Pistone Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1
DOI