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Perhaps no one is going to say it, so I'll say it: The nonchalant font makes these slides easy and fun to read. Also, for who are not in the know, Simon Peyton
by tinco 13y ago
Perhaps no one is going to say it, so I'll say it: The nonchalant font makes these slides easy and fun to read.
Also, for who are not in the know, Simon Peyton Jones is a well respected computer scientist, mostly known for his work on developing the functional programming language Haskell (together with others ofcourse), Haskell research is funded for a large part by Microsoft I think.
- GyrosOfWar 13y agoIt's also great advice. I especially liked the part at the end about using simple and direct language and the active voice. This alone makes a paper much easier to digest even if the subject matter is hard.
- lmm 13y agoPrecisely because he's that respected, I was surprised at the font choice, which I disliked (it just seems to mean extra mental effort for me over something I'm more used to).
- AaronFriel 13y agoHe has said elsewhere, in response to questions about his choice of fonts: This is a very funny question, why I use Comic Sans. So. All my talks use Comic Sans, and I frequently see little remarks, “Simon Peyton Jones, great talk about Haskell, but why did he use Comic Sans?” But nobody’s ever been able to tell me what’s wrong with it. I think it’s a nice, legible font, I like it. So until someone explains to me — I understand that it’s meant to be naff, but I don't care about naff stuff, it’s meant to be able to read it. So if you’ve got some rational reasons why I should not, then I’ll listen to them. But just being unfashionable, I don’t care.
- therobot24 13y agohe also has enough research experience that it's not taken as unprofessional
- adamnemecek 13y agoI think that at some point, he used to use Comic Sans but everyone got a aneurysm so he switched.
- justin66 13y agoHe had an aneurysm, which caused him to choose comic sans. He had a second aneurysm which caused him to choose that thing he's got on there now.
- mcguire 13y agoSo now he's using a font that makes it look like he's had an aneurysm? Brilliant! (I probably shouldn't be making any handwriting/typography comments.)
- jahewson 13y agoYep, he once asked if there was anything he should change about this talk - I said get rid of the Comic Sans, but keep the casual feel. This was in 2010. You know that a is talk finely tuned when the only thing someone can think to change is the font!
- treerex 13y agoHa, I remember seeing him talk at a conference in 1991 and it was hand-written transparencies on an overhead projector. Comic Sans is a relief. :-) Also, to add what others have said, he is one of the best speakers I've ever been lucky enough to see in person: SPJ, Philip Wadler, Guy Steele... good company.