> ...might have been more satisfying if I stayed on the automatic programming track. Hah, my job is sort of in that area now, and it is satisfying. Even if hap

> ...might have been more satisfying if I stayed on the automatic programming track. Hah, my job is sort of in that area now, and it is satisfying. Even if happy users are still a bit harder to come by than one would like... (Working at a large company helps: we can just hire people to use our stuff, instead of having to market it.) I particularly like how you can fruitfully mix PL with pretty much any other field and get something interesting. The intersection with security has always seemed particularly fruitful—you get a lot of bang for your buck with static analysis and automation. You also have the advantage that "secure" is at least a partially objective criterion, sort of like performance. I personally care most about making systems that are more expressive but it's much harder to make a case for that than for "more secure".