Live data from Hacker News

Chris Lattner Joins Google Brain

techcrunch.com

71–80 of 111 posts

Re: Chris Lattner Joins Google Brain

#71
post #2

I was kind of worried he would not find anything... :D Seriously, I wonder if stars like Lattner even need to submit a CV or their mail simply floods with offers.

I am guessing he doesn't have to write code on a whiteboard.

But how will they know if he can invert a binary tree?

Re: Chris Lattner Joins Google Brain

#73
post #50

Worrisome for Apple that its AI efforts weren't interesting enough to keep Lattner, or win him back.

I would think that the whole Siri fiasco would keep anybody in AI/ML the hell away from Apple.

Care to elaborate on the Siri fiasco? I'm out of the loop.

Re: Chris Lattner Joins Google Brain

#74
post #69
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is an obvious overlap between programming languages and machine learning at Google: TensorFlow. For example, see "A Computational Model for TensorFlow" https://research.google.com/pubs/pub46196.html There are tons of interesting things going on in TensorFlow from a programming language perspective. It has optimization at the low level, like CUDA and SIMD back ends via the Eigen library [1] (which is pretty craz…

> There is an obvious overlap between programming languages and machine learning at Google This doesn't explain his very brief stint at Tesla as head of AutoPilot.

Read his resume, that will explain it very well.

Re: Chris Lattner Joins Google Brain

#75
post #11

I find it strange that probably the most successful and influential compiler and PL developer in a generation doesn't seem to be interested in compilers or PL anymore.

After having been working on compiler and PLs for more than a decade, you would feel bored and want new challenges. Besides, Chris did not leave PL, he is still involved in Swift, LLVM etc.

Re: Chris Lattner Joins Google Brain

#76
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds a lot like saying people should get into management so that they can get other people to do stuff for them. People can do anything people can do, so you should get into people. And it's totally true! A good manager can make anything happen that their team can accomplish, and their impact can be huge. But some people want to actually work on the stuff, not work on the stuff that works on the stuff.

Actually, compilers are a great example of this dynamic - when you work becomes more and more impactful, but more and more removed from actual problems people have. Say, you write a script to solve a specific problem someone has. But that is not very impactful - one person is happy and that's all. So you generalize your program to a whole class of problems. But that's not the end. Next, you write a framework for writ…

Nice example. Really, lots of technology is like this. If you enjoy arithmetic, you do it. If not, you use a calculator. If you enjoy digging, grab a shovel, otherwise use a backhoe. Nothing wrong with picking the layer you enjoy, and a backhoe isn't always the best answer anyway.

Re: Chris Lattner Joins Google Brain

#77
post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There is an obvious overlap between programming languages and machine learning at Google This doesn't explain his very brief stint at Tesla as head of AutoPilot.

Read his resume, that will explain it very well.

The question was why a PL developer has seemingly turned away from the domain in which he's prominent, to work on machine learning, where he has no prominence to my knowledge. His resume does not explain it very well, or at all.

Re: Chris Lattner Joins Google Brain

#78
post #15
post #11

I find it strange that probably the most successful and influential compiler and PL developer in a generation doesn't seem to be interested in compilers or PL anymore.

As a machine learning researcher I have to say that you should join us too! AI is the future! PL is an area with big challenges, but AI has even bigger challenges and the impact in the society is bigger, much bigger, too. I would change the question and ask why anyone shouldn't be interested in AI?

Well as another machine learning researcher, I think you can make a major impact working on problems that aren't in AI.

Now if you are a PL person interested in AI we would love to have you and your expertise!

Oh and if you want to use AI to solve PL problems like program synthesis and program completion, that's cool too.

Re: Chris Lattner Joins Google Brain

#79
post #54
post #11

I find it strange that probably the most successful and influential compiler and PL developer in a generation doesn't seem to be interested in compilers or PL anymore.

Google has its own GPGPU compiler: https://research.google.com/pubs/pub45226.html

It's actually all open-source in clang: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHa-OSrZPGo. Try it out!

Re: Chris Lattner Joins Google Brain

#80
post #79
post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google has its own GPGPU compiler: https://research.google.com/pubs/pub45226.html

It's actually all open-source in clang: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHa-OSrZPGo . Try it out!

That's a great talk. Thanks a lot!
Post reply on HN