"Thoughts on language evolution"
summary
Covers a decades-long run of experiments: a symbolic algebra macro system that turns constraint equations into all valid derivation clauses and guarantees consistency, built in Lisp macros to avoid slow numerical relaxation on a VAX 11/780 (about 10,000× slower than a modern laptop); anecdotes of Teco/Emacs and a PostScript-based window system that accepted live code uploads; a refactoring engine that processes millions of lines under a minute; observations that strong typing aids performance and tooling; and a push to run many small experiments rather than one grand redesign.
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chapters (21)
- 0:00Introduction
- 1:30Welcome
- 2:40Screen Sharing
- 3:08Immutability
- 4:25algebraic manipulation of constraints
- 6:40Symbolic algebra
- 8:05List code
- 12:52Constraints
- 15:33Developers tolerance
- 16:06Tico
- 19:14PostScript
- 25:32Macros
- 29:19Syntax
- 36:37Strong typing
- 42:30Refactoring engine
- 45:05Rabbit
- 47:22Conclusion
- 47:50Alex Miller
- 48:07Fortress
- 50:38Language diversity
- 58:29Right hand
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