5 ms·

Ryan Dahl (Creator of Node.js) is doing an IAMA on Reddit

167 points by davej 15y ago

endergen 15y ago
IAMA?
- ghiculescu 15y ago
  Literally "I Am A..." (I Am A teacher, I Am A cop, I Am A chess grand master, etc.) Often paired with "AMA" which stands for "Ask Me Anything". See http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/ http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/ for lots more.
- davej 15y ago
  It's basically a chance for people to ask other people questions e.g. "I am a fireman, AMA (ask me anything)" It originates from here: http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/ http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/
  - redthrowaway 15y ago
    Not to be pedantic, but I saw AMAs on 4chan long before I saw them on reddit.
    - deleted 15y ago
      [deleted]
      - state_machine 15y ago
        This (parent) is what pedantic means. Also, depending on your thoughts on 4chan and reddit, you could say that differentiating between them is pedantic, but that's another question.
      - redthrowaway 15y ago
        The parent said AMA's (well, IAmA) originated on reddit, whereas I contend that, while they may have risen to prominence there, that's not where they originated. perhaps I should have said, "Not to nitpick, but..."
    - davej 15y ago
      Cool, I didn't know that. I stand corrected.
- swah 15y ago
  All kinds of people do those, which makes it interesting. This one was great: http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/gw2mt/i_have_dissociative_identity_disorder_ama/ http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/gw2mt/i_have_dissociat...
gsivil 15y ago
Content-free so far. (7:11 PM east coast)
- davej 15y ago
  Yeah, perhaps I should have waited until he answered a few more questions before submitting this.
  - gsivil 15y ago
    It is not your fault. Thanks a lot for posting that
- sjs 15y ago
  @ryah: "jesus, i go out for a beer and this damn reddit thing is #1 on hacker news?"
pibefision 15y ago
Why not a IAMA here?
- makmanalp 15y ago
  It's not part of the culture I think. IAMAs are a reddit thing. My educated guess is that if it was a less notable person, it would be downvoted and flagged into oblivion.
mjs 15y ago
http://www.reddit.com/r/node/comments/h1m2o/i_am_ryan_dahl_creator_of_nodejs_ama/c1ryf6d http://www.reddit.com/r/node/comments/h1m2o/i_am_ryan_dahl_c... Q: What are your favourite tech sites? (hacker news, /r/programming, etc.) A: hacker news
KirinDave 15y ago
He shouldn't have done it. He's saying some outrageously bizarre technical things. For example, he claims a big advantage of node libraries is their "purity", but it's pretty obvious that he doesn't know what that word means¹. See: http://www.reddit.com/r/node/comments/h1m2o/i_am_ryan_dahl_creator_of_nodejs_ama/c1ry524 http://www.reddit.com/r/node/comments/h1m2o/i_am_ryan_dahl_c... He also says he wishes JavaScript didn't have garbage collection, like C. He says, "Too many people ignore the "no garbage collection" feature when designing languages." But javascript's object model really wouldn't allow manual memory management. The final weird thing is talking about Akka in node, but admits he's had limited success. What I don't think he gets is how the scheduling for actors works. It's actually an alternative paradigm to the callback soup that Node uses. ¹ When we're talking about a programming language, it's not unfair to ask that we not mix up terms already used in the programming world.
- judofyr 15y ago
  > he claims a big advantage of node libraries is their "purity", but it's pretty obvious that he doesn't know what that word means He said: "purity of non-blocking libraries" which has nothing to do with purity in the functional sense of the word, but rather that there are no blocking libraries. "Pure" has several meanings and I don't see how you can mix them up with the context given here… > But javascript's object model really wouldn't allow manual memory management. Huh? Why? How can anything not allow manual memory management? > What I don't think he gets is how the scheduling for actors works. It's actually an alternative paradigm to the callback soup that Node uses. He wrote two sentences that he wanted "something Akka-like" and that he wanted to "connecting Akka actors". Very vague statements from his side; how can you claim he don't understand how it works?
  - KirinDave 15y ago
    > He said: "purity of non-blocking libraries" which has nothing to do with purity in the functional sense of the word I'm sorry, but the word is bizarrely used here. I challenge you to find a single use of this word in this sense in the literature of our profession. I'd be surprised if you could. If he had not used that word, the sentance would have been clearer. And it's not even true. A library could contain an infinite loop, which will do what blocking does. > Huh? Why? How can anything not allow manual memory management? Languages with closures and callbacks have a pretty damn hard time with explicit memory managment. And please note that he didn't say he wanted some explicit memory management features, he said he wished Javascript didn't have garbage collection (like C). This isn't, "I sure do wish I could manage some buffers." > Very vague statements from his side; how can you claim he don't understand how it works? Because Akka's and Erlang's dispatch model is inimical to the way Node.js does business.

167 points by davej 15y ago

endergen 15y ago

IAMA?

ghiculescu 15y ago
Literally "I Am A..." (I Am A teacher, I Am A cop, I Am A chess grand master, etc.) Often paired with "AMA" which stands for "Ask Me Anything". See http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/ http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/ for lots more.
davej 15y ago
It's basically a chance for people to ask other people questions e.g. "I am a fireman, AMA (ask me anything)" It originates from here: http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/ http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/
- redthrowaway 15y ago
  Not to be pedantic, but I saw AMAs on 4chan long before I saw them on reddit.
  - deleted 15y ago
    [deleted]
    - state_machine 15y ago
      This (parent) is what pedantic means. Also, depending on your thoughts on 4chan and reddit, you could say that differentiating between them is pedantic, but that's another question.
    - redthrowaway 15y ago
      The parent said AMA's (well, IAmA) originated on reddit, whereas I contend that, while they may have risen to prominence there, that's not where they originated. perhaps I should have said, "Not to nitpick, but..."
  - davej 15y ago
    Cool, I didn't know that. I stand corrected.
swah 15y ago
All kinds of people do those, which makes it interesting. This one was great: http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/gw2mt/i_have_dissociative_identity_disorder_ama/ http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/gw2mt/i_have_dissociat...

gsivil 15y ago

Content-free so far. (7:11 PM east coast)

davej 15y ago
Yeah, perhaps I should have waited until he answered a few more questions before submitting this.
- gsivil 15y ago
  It is not your fault. Thanks a lot for posting that
sjs 15y ago
@ryah: "jesus, i go out for a beer and this damn reddit thing is #1 on hacker news?"

pibefision 15y ago

Why not a IAMA here?

makmanalp 15y ago
It's not part of the culture I think. IAMAs are a reddit thing. My educated guess is that if it was a less notable person, it would be downvoted and flagged into oblivion.

mjs 15y ago

http://www.reddit.com/r/node/comments/h1m2o/i_am_ryan_dahl_creator_of_nodejs_ama/c1ryf6d http://www.reddit.com/r/node/comments/h1m2o/i_am_ryan_dahl_c... Q: What are your favourite tech sites? (hacker news, /r/programming, etc.) A: hacker news

KirinDave 15y ago

He shouldn't have done it. He's saying some outrageously bizarre technical things. For example, he claims a big advantage of node libraries is their "purity", but it's pretty obvious that he doesn't know what that word means¹. See: http://www.reddit.com/r/node/comments/h1m2o/i_am_ryan_dahl_creator_of_nodejs_ama/c1ry524 http://www.reddit.com/r/node/comments/h1m2o/i_am_ryan_dahl_c... He also says he wishes JavaScript didn't have garbage collection, like C. He says, "Too many people ignore the "no garbage collection" feature when designing languages." But javascript's object model really wouldn't allow manual memory management. The final weird thing is talking about Akka in node, but admits he's had limited success. What I don't think he gets is how the scheduling for actors works. It's actually an alternative paradigm to the callback soup that Node uses. ¹ When we're talking about a programming language, it's not unfair to ask that we not mix up terms already used in the programming world.

judofyr 15y ago
> he claims a big advantage of node libraries is their "purity", but it's pretty obvious that he doesn't know what that word means He said: "purity of non-blocking libraries" which has nothing to do with purity in the functional sense of the word, but rather that there are no blocking libraries. "Pure" has several meanings and I don't see how you can mix them up with the context given here… > But javascript's object model really wouldn't allow manual memory management. Huh? Why? How can anything not allow manual memory management? > What I don't think he gets is how the scheduling for actors works. It's actually an alternative paradigm to the callback soup that Node uses. He wrote two sentences that he wanted "something Akka-like" and that he wanted to "connecting Akka actors". Very vague statements from his side; how can you claim he don't understand how it works?
- KirinDave 15y ago
  > He said: "purity of non-blocking libraries" which has nothing to do with purity in the functional sense of the word I'm sorry, but the word is bizarrely used here. I challenge you to find a single use of this word in this sense in the literature of our profession. I'd be surprised if you could. If he had not used that word, the sentance would have been clearer. And it's not even true. A library could contain an infinite loop, which will do what blocking does. > Huh? Why? How can anything not allow manual memory management? Languages with closures and callbacks have a pretty damn hard time with explicit memory managment. And please note that he didn't say he wanted some explicit memory management features, he said he wished Javascript didn't have garbage collection (like C). This isn't, "I sure do wish I could manage some buffers." > Very vague statements from his side; how can you claim he don't understand how it works? Because Akka's and Erlang's dispatch model is inimical to the way Node.js does business.