
Growing a Language, by Guy Steele - zengr
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8860158196198824415
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seanmcdirmid
When I saw Guy give this talk I was absolutely floored. Both the content and
the style was impressive, the hand drawn transparencies, layered one on top of
the other. It was the first time I realized one could give a talk with a high
degree of style, that their were geniuses in our field. Guy and Gabriel's HOPL
50-in-50 talk was also very stylistic, but not as profound in content (more
like entertainment).

Definitely one of the smartest and most talented persons in our field (OO PL).

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ColinWright
Some of the previous submissions:

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=68918>

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=92542>

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=122989>

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=150863>

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=152311> <\- 7 comments

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=626380>

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=827107>

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2359174> <\- 21 comments

This is a fabulous talk that I thoroughly commend. It's also, perhaps, for a
slightly limited audience, but it shouldn't be. I think every programmer
should see the whole thing, but most won't bother. Which is a shame.

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bokchoi
Sadly, since the talk was recorded in 1998 only generics have been added to
Java. In addition, generics based on erasure may have been added as a wart
that can't easily be removed.

Happily, John Rose recently posted a proposal on how value types and tuples
might look when added to Java:

<https://blogs.oracle.com/jrose/entry/value_types_in_the_vm>

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bandy
⍝ I'm sure that GLS knows this, but ∆ (delta) is a valid APL symbol (APL\SV)
that looks like one of the primitives but may be user-defined. As I recall
(it's been a while since I sat in front of a Selectric with an appropriate
typeball or a real 3270 with an overflowing ashtray sitting next to it), it's
unfortunately the only one, so it was understandably handwaved away.

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agumonkey
Steele's approach to computer logic is always a delight.

