November 11, 2025
Paywall down, practice up
CACM Practice Welcomes Submissions
Paywall down, pros invited: share lessons, not jargon
TLDR: ACM’s flagship magazine reopened its Practice section and is inviting practical, evidence-backed how‑to articles—now with open access. The community is hyped about the paywall disappearing, while a smaller chorus questions “rigor” as gatekeeping; most agree this could finally bridge academia and everyday developers, if submissions stay truly useful.
Communications of the ACM (think the big magazine for computer pros) just rebooted its Practice section and says: send us your real-world lessons. The vibe? Practical, clear, show-your-work pieces—think modern “Programming Pearls” with working code and hard evidence. One early commenter cheered, pointing out the biggest blocker is finally gone: the paywall. “Now the door is open,” wrote PaulHoule, celebrating the long-promised bridge between academic computer science and everyday developers.
Cue drama: some readers are already side-eyeing the word “rigor,” wondering if it means extra gatekeeping, while fans clap back that rigor = receipts. Others love the carpentry motto “Measure twice, cut once,” joking they’ll measure coffee twice before writing. The editors want articles that help newbies and veterans alike climb a ladder—plain talk for “give everyone a rung.” Expect spicy cautionary tales, postmortems on hyped tech, and bunco-busting debunks that make the industry squirm. The call is clear: aim for action, brevity, and proof, then submit via the CACM Practice instructions. With open access and pro editing, the community’s mood is cautiously pumped: if this truly bridges pros and professors, it could be the most useful tech reading we’ve had in years. Time to sharpen those stories
Key Points
- •CACM’s Practice section is relaunched and accepting submissions aimed at computing practitioners worldwide.
- •Desired article types include deep technical dives, best practices, cautionary tales, postmortems, corrections, and debunking.
- •Evaluation emphasizes practicality (actionable impact) and rigor (clarity, concreteness, evaluability with code and field evidence).
- •Authors should contact editors early, target broad audiences with a “ladder” style, and keep within a 6,000-word limit.
- •Accepted articles receive professional editing, broad distribution via print and open-access web, and permanent archiving in the ACM Digital Library.