Stalin: a global optimizing compiler for Scheme • Hacker News Board

Re: Stalin: a global optimizing compiler for Scheme

#31

Post by maxharris » Sat, Aug 23, 2014, 1:42 AM UTC

wiml wrote: post #28

maxharris wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Naming something, even in jest, after one of the most vicious mass murderers in human history is just shameful. Most historians agree that Stalin is responsible for 20 to 60 million non-wartime deaths. Making jokes about any mass murderer trivializes their victims.

There's a restaurant down the street from me named after Genghis Khan. There's a craft brew named after Tamurlane. I could go on and on.

There's a huge difference: there are a lot of people alive today with relatives whose lives were cut short by twentieth-century mass murderers.

Re: Stalin: a global optimizing compiler for Scheme

#32

Post by ericcoleman » Sat, Aug 23, 2014, 1:42 AM UTC

What does "LaHaShem HaAretz U'Mloah" and "Tam V'Nishlam Shevah L'El Borei Olam" at the begging and end of source files?

Re: Stalin: a global optimizing compiler for Scheme

#33

Post by bduerst » Sat, Aug 23, 2014, 1:43 AM UTC

vomitcuddle wrote: post #10

bio4m wrote: post #3

That's a terrible name. The man committed genocide and numerous other crimes against humanity. Using that legacy to try and get a laugh is horrible.

> The man committed genocide and numerous other crimes against humanity. the amerikan founding fathers have committed acts of genocide (and numerous other crimes) against Native Americans and Africans and yet someone decided it would be a good idea to print them on dollar bills

Since when has losing an arm justified losing a leg?

Re: Stalin: a global optimizing compiler for Scheme

#34

Post by bendlas » Sat, Aug 23, 2014, 1:45 AM UTC

Stalin is a beautiful proof of how much a compiler can optimize even "dynamic" languages under a closed-world assumption. This works because the compiler basically just infers all the types (EDIT: that it can, and that's sometimes much more precise than would be expressible in C, hence more optimization opportunities)

Another example of that, to me, is the google closure compiler for javascript (in advanced mode).

The PR situation stemming from stalin's name is a bit unfortunate, but you can always fork and rename it, if you want to work with it, right?

Also, I'm pretty glad that I live in a time where people are free to argue whether jokes about genocidal dictators are acceptable and in the place where I can read them doing so, from the other side of the globe.

Re: Stalin: a global optimizing compiler for Scheme

#35

Post by Houshalter » Sat, Aug 23, 2014, 1:47 AM UTC

maxharris wrote: post #20

jessaustin wrote: post #12

Holy crap HN has its tight underpants on this evening. Relax folks!

Naming something, even in jest, after one of the most vicious mass murderers in human history is just shameful. Most historians agree that Stalin is responsible for 20 to 60 million non-wartime deaths. Making jokes about any mass murderer trivializes their victims.

People make jokes about Hitler all the time. I've seen him appear in various comedies and sketches. I have yet to feel like the holocaust was trivial though.

Re: Stalin: a global optimizing compiler for Scheme

#36

Post by gooseyard » Sat, Aug 23, 2014, 1:48 AM UTC

argc wrote: post #29

Can't we just maintain our sense of humor about things like this and move on? The project is old, the dictator is dead... And its not like naming a project after Stalin is "endorsing" him. It's merely personifying the potentially boring nature of program by calling it "brutal" and "aggressive". Now I have to think about whether I would be ok with other potentially offensive names... Boko Haram, the packet capturing t…

just wait until I unveil my Caliphate static analysis tool next week

Re: Stalin: a global optimizing compiler for Scheme

#37

Post by mathetic » Sat, Aug 23, 2014, 1:56 AM UTC

bduerst wrote: post #33

vomitcuddle wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The man committed genocide and numerous other crimes against humanity. the amerikan founding fathers have committed acts of genocide (and numerous other crimes) against Native Americans and Africans and yet someone decided it would be a good idea to print them on dollar bills

Since when has losing an arm justified losing a leg?

Well, that is not the point though. He is just pointing out the hypocrisy.

Re: Stalin: a global optimizing compiler for Scheme

#38

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Aug 23, 2014, 2:03 AM UTC

Houshalter wrote: post #35

maxharris wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Naming something, even in jest, after one of the most vicious mass murderers in human history is just shameful. Most historians agree that Stalin is responsible for 20 to 60 million non-wartime deaths. Making jokes about any mass murderer trivializes their victims.

People make jokes about Hitler all the time. I've seen him appear in various comedies and sketches. I have yet to feel like the holocaust was trivial though.

[deleted]

Re: Stalin: a global optimizing compiler for Scheme

#39

Post by dang » Sat, Aug 23, 2014, 2:04 AM UTC

The topic here is seminal work on whole-program compilation. Comments about this work, or about whole-program compilation or Scheme compilation in general, are welcome.

Indignation over the name is off-topic. So is indignation about indignation over the name, and so on.

Re: Stalin: a global optimizing compiler for Scheme

#40

Post by kazinator » Sat, Aug 23, 2014, 2:10 AM UTC

cnp wrote: post #15

jessaustin wrote: post #12

Holy crap HN has its tight underpants on this evening. Relax folks!

In the "name" of millions and millions and millions of dead and those brainwashed through terror, I gotta say no, don't relax. It's not funny in the least.

Stalin is also just a Russian surname; probably craploads of them in the Moscow phone book.

Randomly googling for "Igor Stalin", I found a Facebook page and YouTube channel.

Are there famous Stalins besides the well-known tyrant? Wikipedia informs me that "The Stalin" were a Japanese punk band, and some rapper called Jovan Smith took on J. Stalin as a stage name, and an Indian politician called M. K. Stalin. All of these names are derived from the infamous dictator, though. So it's very hard to connect anything which uses that name to anything else.

"The Stalin" chose their name evidently because "Joseph Stalin is very hated by most people in Japan, so it is very good for our image." LOL, facepalm