3 ms·

Also, hbi, the first bytecode interpreter for full Haskell, is 23 years old now... There's no excuse anymore to be ignorant of "modern" static typing - a quart

by dons 14y ago

Also, hbi, the first bytecode interpreter for full Haskell, is 23 years old now... There's no excuse anymore to be ignorant of "modern" static typing - a quarter of a century is long enough.

akkartik 14y ago
I found both your comments exceptionally useful until the last sentence. There's plenty of excuse since it isn't being taught in undergrad computer science courses, etc. As one sample point, I have a PhD from a top-10 US institution. Partially in compilers. I'm motivated everyday to learn about programming. I hack on interpreters in my spare time. A lot. I am utterly 'ignorant of modern static typing'. Setting aside modesty, I'll submit that it isn't my fault.
- dons 14y ago
  Yeah, my comment is really more aimed at the schools that are teaching language design as if it was 1971. And you can always get a copy of TAPL, Types and Programming Languages Benjamin C. Pierce February 1, 2002 ISBN-10: 0262162091 --- And there's a typo above, Nilsson should be "Nielson", as in: "Flemming Nielson and Hanne Riis Nielson. Two-Level Functional Languages. Cambridge University Press, 1992. The Pfenning paper I was thinking of was the S4 stuff: A Modal Analysis of Staged Computation Rowan Davies and Frank Pfenning, 1996
oddthink 14y ago
By similar logic, quantum field theory is about 40 years old, so really there's no excuse to be ignorant of it, either. I kid, but only somewhat. Relevancy (even if just perceived) and accessibility matter.
- dons 14y ago
  If you're a professional in the field of partical physics, there's probably not excuse...
  - oddthink 14y ago
    Well, I went through grad school in astrophysics, and I never really learned it. If I did particle, I would have had to know it cold; then again, those guys don't know anything about magnetohydrodynamics. Presumably, if you're doing type theory, you know it cold. If you're doing crypto or machine learning or computability or databases or (god forbid) are just a working schmo programmer, do you? It's a big world out there. Can't learn everything, although it's fun to try.

by dons 14y ago

Also, hbi, the first bytecode interpreter for full Haskell, is 23 years old now... There's no excuse anymore to be ignorant of "modern" static typing - a quarter of a century is long enough.

akkartik 14y ago

I found both your comments exceptionally useful until the last sentence. There's plenty of excuse since it isn't being taught in undergrad computer science courses, etc. As one sample point, I have a PhD from a top-10 US institution. Partially in compilers. I'm motivated everyday to learn about programming. I hack on interpreters in my spare time. A lot. I am utterly 'ignorant of modern static typing'. Setting aside modesty, I'll submit that it isn't my fault.

dons 14y ago
Yeah, my comment is really more aimed at the schools that are teaching language design as if it was 1971. And you can always get a copy of TAPL, Types and Programming Languages Benjamin C. Pierce February 1, 2002 ISBN-10: 0262162091 --- And there's a typo above, Nilsson should be "Nielson", as in: "Flemming Nielson and Hanne Riis Nielson. Two-Level Functional Languages. Cambridge University Press, 1992. The Pfenning paper I was thinking of was the S4 stuff: A Modal Analysis of Staged Computation Rowan Davies and Frank Pfenning, 1996

oddthink 14y ago

By similar logic, quantum field theory is about 40 years old, so really there's no excuse to be ignorant of it, either. I kid, but only somewhat. Relevancy (even if just perceived) and accessibility matter.

dons 14y ago
If you're a professional in the field of partical physics, there's probably not excuse...
- oddthink 14y ago
  Well, I went through grad school in astrophysics, and I never really learned it. If I did particle, I would have had to know it cold; then again, those guys don't know anything about magnetohydrodynamics. Presumably, if you're doing type theory, you know it cold. If you're doing crypto or machine learning or computability or databases or (god forbid) are just a working schmo programmer, do you? It's a big world out there. Can't learn everything, although it's fun to try.