4 ms·

We Really Don't Know How to Compute (2011) [video]

77 points by rfreytag 7y ago

dang 7y ago
Discussed at the time: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3163473 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3163473 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2820118 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2820118
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
dmix 7y ago
I could listen to Sussman talk about computers for days. I’m jealous of the kids at MIT who got to be his student.
- sadlion 7y ago
  I feel the exact same way. I really appreciate that he clearly defines concepts, explains the rules and demonstrates with concrete examples of what he is talking about.
- nanomonkey 7y ago
  Quite a few of his MIT lectures are online, like the SICP lectures: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8FE88AA54363BC46 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8FE88AA54363BC46
  - dmix 7y ago
    Oh I know, I’ve watched all of those twice. I adore those lectures. It’s what converted me from a frontend dev dabbling in backend programming into a dedicated programmer ~10yrs ago. They way they approach programming using Scheme, building complex concepts from nothing like Lego blocks. Plus it contains one of the best explanations of abstraction which is probably the most important and powerful part of programming, that really blew my mind back then. Choosing when and how to balance abstraction in your code is still a daily challenge, even as I’ve matured as a developer, which makes me think back to these lectures often.
    - nanomonkey 7y ago
      I'd love to find videos of lectures done for SICM (Structure and Interpretation of Classical Mechanics). I've been wanting to go through the book (possibly attempting to do the work in Clojure?) for some time.
    - tenaciousDaniel 7y ago
      As someone who is a self taught front-end dev, this comment has peaked my curiosity. I'll now have to give these lectures a listen over the weekend.
      - mattcaldwell 7y ago
        piqued
        tenaciousDaniel 7y ago
        You learn something new every day.
lidHanteyk 7y ago
I wanted to see the slides, so I tracked them down: https://github.com/strangeloop/2011-slides/blob/master/Sussman-WeDontKnowHowToCompute.pdf https://github.com/strangeloop/2011-slides/blob/master/Sussm...
- jgeada 7y ago
  Interesting: what is being described is a computational paradigm very similar to traditional hardware description languages (Verilog, SystemVerilog, VHDL, etc)
tosh 7y ago
on infoq: https://www.infoq.com/presentations/We-Really-Dont-Know-How-To-Compute/ https://www.infoq.com/presentations/We-Really-Dont-Know-How-...
i_don_t_know 7y ago
Briefly glancing through the slides, this appears to be based on the work in "The Art of the Propagator" by Alexey Radul and Gerald Jay Sussman. [PDF] https://dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/handle/1721.1/44215/MIT-CSAIL-TR-2009-002.pdf https://dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/handle/1721.1/44215/MIT-CSA... See also the recent discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20405183 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20405183

77 points by rfreytag 7y ago

dang 7y ago

Discussed at the time: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3163473 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3163473 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2820118 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2820118

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

dmix 7y ago

I could listen to Sussman talk about computers for days. I’m jealous of the kids at MIT who got to be his student.

sadlion 7y ago
I feel the exact same way. I really appreciate that he clearly defines concepts, explains the rules and demonstrates with concrete examples of what he is talking about.
nanomonkey 7y ago
Quite a few of his MIT lectures are online, like the SICP lectures: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8FE88AA54363BC46 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8FE88AA54363BC46
- dmix 7y ago
  Oh I know, I’ve watched all of those twice. I adore those lectures. It’s what converted me from a frontend dev dabbling in backend programming into a dedicated programmer ~10yrs ago. They way they approach programming using Scheme, building complex concepts from nothing like Lego blocks. Plus it contains one of the best explanations of abstraction which is probably the most important and powerful part of programming, that really blew my mind back then. Choosing when and how to balance abstraction in your code is still a daily challenge, even as I’ve matured as a developer, which makes me think back to these lectures often.
  - nanomonkey 7y ago
    I'd love to find videos of lectures done for SICM (Structure and Interpretation of Classical Mechanics). I've been wanting to go through the book (possibly attempting to do the work in Clojure?) for some time.
  - tenaciousDaniel 7y ago
    As someone who is a self taught front-end dev, this comment has peaked my curiosity. I'll now have to give these lectures a listen over the weekend.
    - mattcaldwell 7y ago
      piqued
      - tenaciousDaniel 7y ago
        You learn something new every day.

lidHanteyk 7y ago

I wanted to see the slides, so I tracked them down: https://github.com/strangeloop/2011-slides/blob/master/Sussman-WeDontKnowHowToCompute.pdf https://github.com/strangeloop/2011-slides/blob/master/Sussm...

jgeada 7y ago
Interesting: what is being described is a computational paradigm very similar to traditional hardware description languages (Verilog, SystemVerilog, VHDL, etc)

tosh 7y ago

on infoq: https://www.infoq.com/presentations/We-Really-Dont-Know-How-To-Compute/ https://www.infoq.com/presentations/We-Really-Dont-Know-How-...

i_don_t_know 7y ago

Briefly glancing through the slides, this appears to be based on the work in "The Art of the Propagator" by Alexey Radul and Gerald Jay Sussman. [PDF] https://dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/handle/1721.1/44215/MIT-CSAIL-TR-2009-002.pdf https://dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/handle/1721.1/44215/MIT-CSA... See also the recent discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20405183 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20405183