What is the timeline for using arXiv in computer science?
In theoretical computer science, a fairly common way to do it is roughly this:

Prepare a nice, complete, readable version of the paper and upload it to arXiv. This is usually known as the &quot;full version&quot;.

Prepare a version suitable for conference submission (e.g. move some proofs to the appendix, save space here and there to meet the page limits, change layout if needed).

Revise both versions based on the reviews &amp; comments if needed, and repeat.

Eventually the paper is accepted to a conference. Edit the accepted manuscript it so that it has the right length, the right layout, etc. Often there are page limits, and hence some details will be omitted. Refer to the &quot;full version&quot; in arXiv for the missing details. The publisher may or may not do additional edits before the paper appears in the conference. This is now known as the &quot;conference version&quot;, and it is typically fairly different from the full version in arXiv.


For many papers the timeline ends here. However, some papers will also eventually appear in a journal, in which case we continue:

Using both the full version and the latest conference version as a starting point, prepare a paper for journal submission. If there are relevant changes, update the arXiv version.

Revise both versions based on the reviews &amp; comments if needed, and repeat.

Eventually the paper is accepted to a journal. The final published version may be very close to the arXiv version, or there may be changes in the journal version e.g. due to the reviewer's comments that are not incorporated in the arXiv version.


In brief, there is just one arXiv submission (with potentially many revisions), and it is usually much closer to the journal version (if one ever appears) than to the conference version (which tends to omit some details due to lack of space).
Publishers may also have restrictions on how much of their &quot;added value&quot; (e.g. changes made based on reviewers' feedback) can be included in the arXiv version, and because of this the arXiv version may also be an early draft.
Conferences play a big role, they have strict deadlines, and people organize their work based on the deadlines, so it is common to see papers first appearing in arXiv roughly at the same time as when they are first submitted to a conference (± a few days).