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Chris Lattner: The Future of Computing and Programming Languages [audio]

lexfridman.com

141–150 of 151 posts

Re: Chris Lattner: The Future of Computing and Programming Languages [audio]

#141
post #69
post #51

Early in the interview Lattner does a great job of selling Swift. Value types (with copy on write), progressive disclosure, ... I think Swift is a great language but the lack of cross platform development is holding it back.

I agree, I'm coming around to the fact that Swift is probably the best-designed language in widespread use right now. I've used many and tried many more, and I don't know if it is the original Rust team's involvement with its evolution or just the brilliance of its creator but Swift has really hit a sweet spot in all the many axes of language design. It is just so... productive. Things feel so much easier in Swift, y…

There's no information in this entire comment. Reminds me of clojure people.

Re: Chris Lattner: The Future of Computing and Programming Languages [audio]

#142

The podcast was targeted at casual audiences, who generally are normal engineers in the software trade, or even ones outside of software. The content is fairly shallow. I am looking for content that actually can describe practitioner problems, not just superficially on general conceptual problems. One that delivered by John Carmark would be one such example. But John probably is on another level than Chris here, and…

I don't get why this is downvoted.

Re: Chris Lattner: The Future of Computing and Programming Languages [audio]

#143

Really sad to see how much of the commentary here is meta-commentary about Lex and not about the content. Several people asked, so here's the reason I chose to go on his show: it's because I love his work (frequent listener) and he's a great person. He asks good questions suitable to a wide audience and he's fun to talk to. If you don't like his show or style, then you don't have to listen to it. :-) -Chris

What most of the HN community seems too misunderstand is that the very nature of being here means you're far more deeply ingrained in tech than most. Personally I'm almost a layman when it comes to hardware and compiler technologies. When Lex asks basic questions, they are the sort of things I want to hear about. Sure there's room for a more in-depth/challenging conversation but I don't think that Lex's podcast is th…

My problem is more with the title: "The Future of Computing and Programming Languages" implies some kind of overview and outlook. They more or less discuss a small set of current technologies completely out of context (not even mentioning/hinting at current work/ research directions outside of LLVM and the Swift universe) then venturing off into very speculative topics (in which both are none-experts).

It's a really questionable title and in my opinion bad framing.

Re: Chris Lattner: The Future of Computing and Programming Languages [audio]

#144
post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree, I'm coming around to the fact that Swift is probably the best-designed language in widespread use right now. I've used many and tried many more, and I don't know if it is the original Rust team's involvement with its evolution or just the brilliance of its creator but Swift has really hit a sweet spot in all the many axes of language design. It is just so... productive. Things feel so much easier in Swift, y…

There's no information in this entire comment. Reminds me of clojure people.

Your vague insult aside, what kind of information are you looking for? The technical summaries of the language are widely available elsewhere, were you expecting those in a comment here? Note that the linked podcast goes into those details directly, so I’m partly assuming readers here are aware of the content before reading the comments.

Re: Chris Lattner: The Future of Computing and Programming Languages [audio]

#145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's impossible to cover "all the things" in one podcast. However, I'm happy to answer specific questions if you have a specific interest.

True, true. Yet, I feel the podcast discusses more the current state, not the future in terms of programming/computing. When I listened, I was wondering what is a rather obscure language you like and enjoy and why. (I still like hacking OpenDylan from time to time. For me, Swift seems great for user interfaces and for some os applications (command line etc.). Especially Apple's SwiftUI seem to take the best of d3.js…

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Re: Chris Lattner: The Future of Computing and Programming Languages [audio]

#146

Really sad to see how much of the commentary here is meta-commentary about Lex and not about the content. Several people asked, so here's the reason I chose to go on his show: it's because I love his work (frequent listener) and he's a great person. He asks good questions suitable to a wide audience and he's fun to talk to. If you don't like his show or style, then you don't have to listen to it. :-) -Chris

Lex triggers people for some reason, lol. I could speculate as to why but that's not my area of expertise. :)

For my part I really enjoyed both of your visits to the podcast. The first one really contextualized a lot of the work that I wholly take for granted every day and this just expanded on that. Lex should do an annual State of the Stack series and drag you back in for more :)

Re: Chris Lattner: The Future of Computing and Programming Languages [audio]

#147

I love his podcast. Episode with Joscha Bach is the best one so far - Joscha is an excellent fit for type of questions Lex tends to ask

Thanks, never heard that name but I will definitely listen to the episode!

You need to warm up the brain for that one. I'm sure it's different if you spend a lot of time thinking about the topics they discussed, but I don't, and it felt like my brain was getting tazed. The pace at which he crystalizes vague notions into the framework of his worldview is impressive. I don't think I ever clicked 'skip backwards 15 seconds' more in a podcast that already had my full attention.

Re: Chris Lattner: The Future of Computing and Programming Languages [audio]

#148

Why are people so negative? I get that it is possible for people to dislike his style or find his voice triggering. What I don’t get is what those people get out of pointing this out. Especially when others have already done this.

Yes, it is quite sad. I didn't know a voice could be so triggering to people until I went on this thread. It's really not something I place much importance on, so I was surprised to see this.

Lex, if you're reading this by any chance, please keep up the great work. There are a lot more people who love what you're doing than those who don't! :)

Re: Chris Lattner: The Future of Computing and Programming Languages [audio]

#149
post #51

Early in the interview Lattner does a great job of selling Swift. Value types (with copy on write), progressive disclosure, ... I think Swift is a great language but the lack of cross platform development is holding it back.

Isn't Google pouring lots of money/developers into developing Swift for AI?

No. Swift for TF is almost dead by now.

Re: Chris Lattner: The Future of Computing and Programming Languages [audio]

#150
post #3

If you prefer videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWTvXbQHwWs Also has timestamps for specific topics.

It's easier to understand Lex's demeanor when watching him. Not knowing who he is, the audio sounds like he's tuned out, bored, distracted... Watching him, you can see that's not the case at all. Just having facial expressions, and knowing that the guests are right across from him, make the whole exchange much more understandable.
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