Ask HN: What's your favorite tech talk? • Hacker News Board

davidw wrote: post #9

agumonkey wrote: post #7

After lots of talks I started going to the library and found out it's a lot more effective to grow knowledge. Maybe I'm too ADHD-able when watching videos.

I can read way, way faster than I can listen to a video. Also, reading usually comes with charts and code I can cut and paste. Books are way more effective than videos for me.

I used to believe this. But reading and deep understanding aren't that correlated, so speed is secondary to me. Videos have just less content than books and don't bring a lot compared to textual encodings of ideas. Maybe the context help with a book, you're by yourself, trying to imagine ideas rather than hearing it from someone else (which could cause more "acceptance" rather than understanding).

Re: Ask HN: What's your favorite tech talk?

#25

Post by corysama » Tue, Oct 04, 2016, 5:59 PM UTC

Alan Kay is my favorite tech curmudgeon.

1) Alan Kay: Is it really "Complex"? Or did we just make it "Complicated" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubaX1Smg6pY

Take note that he is not giving the talk using Window & PowerPoint, or even Linux & OpenOffice. 100% of the software on his laptop are original products of his group. Including the productivity suite, the OS, the compilers and the languages being compiled.

2) Bret Victor: The Future of Programming https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGMiCo2Ntsc

Re: Ask HN: What's your favorite tech talk?

#26

Post by Jtsummers » Tue, Oct 04, 2016, 5:59 PM UTC

arjunnarayan wrote: post #5

> what's that one talk that changed the way you think and you feel everyone needs to see? Growing a Language by Guy Steele. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ahvzDzKdB0

https://www.cs.virginia.edu/~evans/cs655/readings/steele.pdf

A write-up of the same talk. Fantastic read and watch.

Re: Ask HN: What's your favorite tech talk?

#27

Post by michaelmcmillan » Tue, Oct 04, 2016, 6:00 PM UTC

Fast test, slow test by Gary Bernhardt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAxiiRPHS9k

Re: Ask HN: What's your favorite tech talk?

#28

Post by mparr4 » Tue, Oct 04, 2016, 6:00 PM UTC

jonbarker wrote: post #11

dudul wrote: post #2

Big fan of Rich Hickey. I found most of his talks really great, and applicable beyond the Clojure universe. My favorites: "Are we there yet?" and "Simple made Easy".

+1 this comment. I do not recall in which of his talks he defines "complexity" but his definition is excellent.

> I do not recall in which of his talks he defines "complexity"

that'd be "Simple Made Easy"

Re: Ask HN: What's your favorite tech talk?

#29

Post by davidw » Tue, Oct 04, 2016, 6:03 PM UTC

agumonkey wrote: post #24

davidw wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can read way, way faster than I can listen to a video. Also, reading usually comes with charts and code I can cut and paste. Books are way more effective than videos for me.

I used to believe this. But reading and deep understanding aren't that correlated, so speed is secondary to me. Videos have just less content than books and don't bring a lot compared to textual encodings of ideas. Maybe the context help with a book, you're by yourself, trying to imagine ideas rather than hearing it from someone else (which could cause more "acceptance" rather than understanding).

> But reading and deep understanding aren't that correlated, so speed is secondary to me

With a book, it's easy to speed up and slow down as needs be.

Re: Ask HN: What's your favorite tech talk?

#30

Post by dcre » Tue, Oct 04, 2016, 6:03 PM UTC

I already see a bunch of people posting and upvoting Bret Victor's "Inventing on Principle", but I think his "Media for Thinking the Unthinkable" is better.

https://vimeo.com/67076984