Summary of "Stop Writing Dead Programs" by Jack Rusher (Strange Loop 2022)

00:00:00 - 00:40:00

In this talk, Jack Rusher discusses the dangers of writing dead programs. He notes that many of the practices we still use today were developed in a time when computers were much slower and more difficult to use. He goes on to argue that many of these practices are unnecessarily hard and can even lead to programmers becoming proud of themselves instead of solving the actual problem.

• 00:00:00 Jack Rusher gives a talk on the dangers of writing dead programs. He notes that many of the practices we still use today were developed in a time when computers were much slower and more difficult to use. He goes on to argue that many of these practices are unnecessarily hard and can even lead to programmers becoming proud of themselves instead of solving the actual problem.
• 00:05:00 In this video, Jack Rusher explains how the cloud and wait for CI jobs can slow down development. He also points out that many programming languages assume a linear execution model, which does not work well for long-lived servers. Jack Rusher recommends concentrating on algebraic rather than syntax and semantics.
• 00:10:00 In this video, Jack Rusher explains how Haskell's sequencing abstraction and state management helps to improve the clarity and conciseness of code. He also mentions Erlang, which gets almost everything right when it comes to running processes and managing state.
• 00:15:00 The video discusses various aspects of programming, including how systems with normal closure semantics can be used to create graphs in real time. It then moves on to talk about the propagators, which were developed at MIT in the 1970s. The video finishes with a discussion of how text programming is different from traditional programming, and how supporters of text tend to mean text like this text: "text is good, but the thing about it is that the people who send me this in support of text always mean text like this text: 'text is good, but the thing about it is that the people who send me this in support of text always mean text like this text: 'text is good, but the thing about it is that the people who send me this in support of text always mean text like this.'"
• 00:20:00 Jack Rusher discusses the power of the visual cortex and why text-based programming is a bad idea. He recommends people learn about programming with graphics, using a 100-year-old book by Russian artist Wassily Kandinsky as an example. He also discusses how types help programmers avoid mistakes, and how interactive programming allows for shorter feedback loops.
• 00:25:00 The video discusses the importance of debuggability in programming, particularly in languages with low defect rates. It also discusses the use of small talk, a 70s-era programming language that helps track the state of a running program.
• 00:30:00 In this video, Jack Rusher shares his thoughts on the state of interactive programming and how we should be moving towards more "small talker" programming languages that are just as good as traditional programming languages. He also discusses the advantages of error handling in programing environments, the power of visualizations in debugging, and the importance of using a language with good library support.
• 00:35:00 The video discusses ways to improve programming languages without sacrificing readability or efficiency. It discusses two examples - a structure editor for racket and a data visualization library called Clerk.
• 00:40:00 In this talk, Jack Rusher discusses some of the crazier programming languages out there, including Hest and Tyler. He recommends that people read the papers on these languages to get a better understanding of them.