Alan Kay has agreed to do an AMA today • Hacker News Board

Re: Alan Kay has agreed to do an AMA today

#241

Post by edejong » Mon, Jun 20, 2016, 8:15 PM UTC

astrodust wrote: post #205

pault wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm not a big Unix fan What is your preferred technology stack?

What's a good non-UNIX open-source operating system that's useful for day-to-day work, or at least academically significant enough that it's worth diving in to?

I'd assume that depends on your measure of worth, I'd say. Many operating systems had little academic significance when it was most academically or commercially fruitful to invest time in. Microkernel and dependency specific operating systems would be interesting. Or hardware based capability based operating systems.

Re: Alan Kay has agreed to do an AMA today

#242

Post by alankay » Mon, Jun 20, 2016, 8:15 PM UTC

discreteevent wrote: post #172

Hi Alan, A lot of the VPRI work involved inventing new languages (DSLs). The results were extremely impressive but there were some extremely impressive people inventing the languages. Do you think this is a practical approach for everyday programmers? You have also recommended before that there should be clear separation between meta model and model. Should there be something similar to discipline a codebase where pe…

Tricky question. One answer would be to ask whether there is an intrinsic difference between "computer science" and (say) physics? Or are the differences just that computing is where science was in the Middle Ages?

Re: Alan Kay has agreed to do an AMA today

#243

Post by AndrewCrick » Mon, Jun 20, 2016, 8:16 PM UTC

Hi Alan,

I came up with an idea that seems a bit like the Dynabook. It helps the user to understand design decisions. Here's a short video about it (under 2 mins):

https://www.vimeo.com/24332798

In this case it's about how to build a digger.

I'd love to know what you think about it.

Re: Alan Kay has agreed to do an AMA today

#244

Post by Gargoyle » Mon, Jun 20, 2016, 8:16 PM UTC

alankay1 wrote: post #224

DeepAndDark wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would also like to know if he uses emacs or vim, or whatever. And if he thinks the editor is relevant.

Yikes!

Tabs or spaces? :-)

Re: Alan Kay has agreed to do an AMA today

#245

Post by alankay1 » Mon, Jun 20, 2016, 8:17 PM UTC

snowwrestler wrote: post #160

I recall reading an article about 10 years ago describing a PARC research project in which networked computers with antennae were placed throughout a set of rooms, and the subject carried a small transmitter with them from room to room. As the computer in each room detected the transmitter, it triggered actions in each room. I think it was called "ambient computing." Does this ring a bell for you? I have searched for…

Yes, this idea was originally Nicholas Negroponte's in the 70s. The Parc version was called "Ubiquitous Computing" and was led by Mark Wieser in the 80s ...

Re: Alan Kay has agreed to do an AMA today

#246

Post by Natanael_L » Mon, Jun 20, 2016, 8:17 PM UTC

snowwrestler wrote: post #160

I recall reading an article about 10 years ago describing a PARC research project in which networked computers with antennae were placed throughout a set of rooms, and the subject carried a small transmitter with them from room to room. As the computer in each room detected the transmitter, it triggered actions in each room. I think it was called "ambient computing." Does this ring a bell for you? I have searched for…

Now that's geofencing, smart homes, etc... Apps like Tasker on Android can do some of it.

Re: Alan Kay has agreed to do an AMA today

#247

Post by childintime » Mon, Jun 20, 2016, 8:18 PM UTC

Hi Alan,

What skills would your (hypothetical?) apprentice need to have?

If this were more like a partnership what would be the subject to work on?

For that matter, what are you working on now?

Re: Alan Kay has agreed to do an AMA today

#248

Post by edejong » Mon, Jun 20, 2016, 8:18 PM UTC

alankay wrote: post #215

stcredzero wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then what do you think about the concept of "gamification?" Do you think high densities of reward and variable schedules of reward can be exploited to productively focus human attention and intelligence on problems? Music itself could be thought of as an analogy here. Since music is sound structured in a way that makes it palatable (i.e. it has a high density of reward) much human attention has been focused on the ph…

I certainly don't think of music along these lines. Or even theater. I like developed arts of all kinds, and these require learning on the part of the beholder, not just bones tossed at puppies.

I just tried, albeit slightly unsuccessfully, to describe the philosophy of the Montessori system to someone. Your answer, learning on the part of the beholder, sums it up beautifully. Thank you for that.

Re: Alan Kay has agreed to do an AMA today

#249

Post by alankay » Mon, Jun 20, 2016, 8:20 PM UTC

ianbicking wrote: post #157

1. After Engelbart's group disbanded it seemed like he ended up in the wilderness for a long time, and focused his attention on management. I'll project onto him and would guess that he felt more constrained by his social or economic context than he was by technology, that he envisioned possibilities that were unattainable for reasons that weren't technical. I'm curious if you do or have felt the same way, and if hav…

It used to be the case that people were admonished to "not re-invent the wheel". We now live in an age that spends a lot of time "reinventing the flat tire!"

The flat tires come from the reinventors often not being in the same league as the original inventors. This is a symptom of a "pop culture" where identity and participation are much more important than progress...

Re: Alan Kay has agreed to do an AMA today

#250

Post by Natanael_L » Mon, Jun 20, 2016, 8:21 PM UTC

alankay wrote: post #242

discreteevent wrote: post #172

Hi Alan, A lot of the VPRI work involved inventing new languages (DSLs). The results were extremely impressive but there were some extremely impressive people inventing the languages. Do you think this is a practical approach for everyday programmers? You have also recommended before that there should be clear separation between meta model and model. Should there be something similar to discipline a codebase where pe…

Tricky question. One answer would be to ask whether there is an intrinsic difference between "computer science" and (say) physics? Or are the differences just that computing is where science was in the Middle Ages?

Computer science is defined by information theory, and we already have mathematical proofs binding together information theory with the laws of quantum physics (such as the example of the minimum energy needed to erase one bit of entropy from memory, something which is bounded by the ambient temperature).