Dave Ackley's paper Beyond Efficiency is three pages long. With just these three pages, he mounts a compelling argument against the conventional way we engineer software. Instead of inflexibly insisting upon correctness, maybe allow a lil slop? Instead of chasing peak performance with cache and clever tricks, maybe measure many times before you cut. So in this episode, we're putting every CEO in the guillotine… (oh, that stands for "correctness and efficiency only", don't put us on a list)… and considering when, where, and how to do the robust thing.

Links

$ patreon.com/futureofcoding — The most recent bonus episode is a discussion with Stefan Lesser about new "laws of physics" we can invent inside the computer.

Don't destroy the earth, then make sure your thing can't be destroyed, then don't destroy your data, and finally, do your damn job, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.
A Software Epiphany, and the accompanying HN discussion — giga viral, so sick
PartyKit? Nice!
What started as a simple todo list turned into an ocean of tech boy milk and, ultimately, the AI apocalypse.
Jepsen is a rough, rugged, deeply thoughtful and fantastically cool approach to distributed systems testing, by Kyle Kingsbury. Also, we didn't talk about it, but his reversing / hexing / typing / rewriting / unifying technical interview series is essential reading.
Ivan's examples of robustness vs efficiency were RAID, the CAP theorem, Automerge, the engineering of FoundationDB, and Byzantine fault tolerance— all of which stake out interesting territory in the efficiency/robustness tradeoff spectrum, all of which are about distributed systems.
Can programming be liberated from the von Neumann style?, a paper by John Backus.
We Don't Really Know How to Compute!, a talk by Gerald Sussman.
The Robust-First Computing Creed is rock solid.
The Wikipedia article on von Neumann architecture did not come through with the goods.
Ivan works with Alex Warth now, and thus may fairly speak in half-truths like "I've been working with constraints recently…"
The Demon Hoard Sort
Bogosort is never coming to Dreamberd
The Witness was made by Jonathan Blow, who has Aphantasia, but he also made a game called Braid, and Braid is good.
Datamosh is a creative misuse of the lack of robustness that comes from storing diffs instead of full state snapshots. Here's a lovely gallery of examples.
Abstraction by xkcd
Reverse Engineering the source code of the BioNTech/Pfizer SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine
Can't let Lu get through the above without derailing onto Fiverr, PCP, Fight Club, and the Dust Brothers.
Randy Newman was nearly quoted in Ackley's Indefinite Scalability for Living Computation — god help you if you read our show notes and don't listen to the episode.
"It is difficult", says Upton Sinclair when asked about Jimmy Miller being Jimmy Miller, and how we all ought to approach our own sense of Jimmy Miller.

Music featured in this episode:
Hawker News by user: spiralganglion
Corporate World by the Dust Brothers

No more jokes! Find us at these normal places:
Ivan: Mastodon • Website
Jimmy: Mastodon • Website
Lu: Mastodon • Website
Dave: Mastodon • Website

Send us email, share your ideas in our Slack, and support the show on Patreon. Yes, do all three please.

http://futureofcoding.org/episodes/70

<a href="https://www.cs.unm.edu/~ackley/">Dave Ackley</a>'s paper <a href="https://www.cs.unm.edu/~ackley/be-201301131528.pdf">Beyond Efficiency</a> is three pages long. With just these three pages, he mounts a compelling argument against the conventional way we engineer software. Instead of inflexibly insisting upon correctness, maybe allow a lil slop? Instead of chasing peak performance with cache and clever tricks, maybe measure many times before you cut. So in this episode, we're putting every CEO in the guillotine… (oh, that stands for "correctness and efficiency only", don't put us on a list)… and considering when, where, and how to do the robust thing.
Links
$ <a href="https://www.patreon.com/futureofcoding">patreon.com/futureofcoding</a> — The most recent bonus episode is a discussion with Stefan Lesser about new "laws of physics" we can invent inside the computer.
Don't destroy the earth, then make sure your thing can't be destroyed, then don't destroy your data, and finally, do your damn job, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.
<ul>
<li><a href="https://johnwhiles.com/posts/programming-as-theory">A Software Epiphany</a>, and the accompanying <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38324486">HN discussion</a> — giga viral, so sick</li>
<li><a href="https://www.partykit.io/">PartyKit</a>? Nice!</li>
<li>What started as a <a href="https://mastodon.social/@TodePond@mas.to/111402970410628418">simple todo list</a> turned into an <a href="https://twitter.com/tldraw/status/1724892287304646868">ocean of tech boy milk</a> and, ultimately, the <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38309611">AI apocalypse</a>.</li>
<li><a href="https://jepsen.io/">Jepsen</a> is a rough, rugged, deeply thoughtful and fantastically cool approach to distributed systems testing, by <a href="https://aphyr.com/">Kyle Kingsbury</a>. Also, we didn't talk about it, but his <a href="https://aphyr.com/posts/340-reversing-the-technical-interview">reversing</a> / <a href="https://aphyr.com/posts/341-hexing-the-technical-interview">hexing</a> / <a href="https://aphyr.com/posts/342-typing-the-technical-interview">typing</a> / <a href="https://aphyr.com/posts/353-rewriting-the-technical-interview">rewriting</a> / <a href="https://aphyr.com/posts/354-unifying-the-technical-interview">unifying</a> technical interview series is essential reading.</li>
<li>Ivan's examples of robustness vs efficiency were <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAID">RAID</a>, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAP_theorem">CAP theorem</a>, <a href="https://automerge.org/">Automerge</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fFDFbi3toc">the engineering of FoundationDB</a>, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_fault">Byzantine fault tolerance</a>— all of which stake out interesting territory in the efficiency/robustness tradeoff spectrum, all of which are about distributed systems.</li>
<li><a href="https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/359576.359579">Can programming be liberated from the von Neumann style?</a>, a paper by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Backus">John Backus</a>.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HB5TrK7A4pI">We Don't Really Know How to Compute!</a>, a talk by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Jay_Sussman">Gerald Sussman</a>.</li>
<li>The <a href="https://andrewwalpole.com/blog/an-introduction-to-robust-first-computation/">Robust-First Computing Creed</a> is rock solid.</li>
<li>The Wikipedia article on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Von_Neumann_architecture">von Neumann architecture</a> did not come through with the goods.</li>
<li>Ivan works with <a href="https://alexwarth.github.io/">Alex Warth</a> now, and thus may fairly speak in half-truths like "I've been working with constraints recently…"</li>
<li>The <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=helScS3coAE">Demon Hoard Sort</a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bogosort">Bogosort</a> is never coming to <a href="https://github.com/TodePond/DreamBerd">Dreamberd</a></li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Witness_(2016_video_game)">The Witness</a> was made by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Blow">Jonathan Blow</a>, who has <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphantasia">Aphantasia</a>, but he also made a game called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braid_(video_game)">Braid</a>, and Braid is good.</li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compression_artifact#Artistic_use">Datamosh</a> is a creative misuse of the lack of robustness that comes from storing diffs instead of full state snapshots. Here's a <a href="https://eyecannndy.com/technique/glitch#datamosh">lovely gallery</a> of examples.</li>
<li><a href="https://xkcd.com/676/">Abstraction</a> by xkcd</li>
<li><a href="https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/reverse-engineering-source-code-of-the-biontech-pfizer-vaccine/">Reverse Engineering the source code of the BioNTech/Pfizer SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine</a></li>
<li>Can't let Lu get through the above without derailing onto <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiverr">Fiverr</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phencyclidine">PCP</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fight_Club">Fight Club</a>, and the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dust_Brothers">Dust Brothers</a>.</li>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randy_Newman">Randy Newman</a> was nearly quoted in Ackley's <a href="https://cdn.aaai.org/ojs/9802/9802-13-13330-1-2-20201228.pdf">Indefinite Scalability for Living Computation</a> — god help you if you read our show notes and don't listen to the episode.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/21810-it-is-difficult-to-get-a-man-to-understand-something">"It is difficult"</a>, says <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upton_Sinclair">Upton Sinclair</a> when asked about Jimmy Miller being Jimmy Miller, and how we all ought to approach our own sense of Jimmy Miller.</li>
</ul>
Music featured in this episode:
<ul>
<li><a href="https://ivanish.ca/hawker-news">Hawker News</a> by <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=spiralganglion">user: spiralganglion</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAtX4PjUXrM">Corporate World</a> by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dust_Brothers">Dust Brothers</a></li>
</ul>
No more jokes! Find us at these normal places:
<ul>
<li>Ivan: <a href="https://mastodon.social/@spiralganglion">Mastodon</a> • <a href="https://ivanish.ca/">Website</a></li>
<li>Jimmy: <a href="https://hachyderm.io/@jimmyhmiller">Mastodon</a> • <a href="https://jimmyhmiller.github.io/">Website</a></li>
<li>Lu: <a href="https://mas.to/@TodePond">Mastodon</a> • <a href="https://www.todepond.com/">Website</a></li>
<li>Dave: <a href="https://hachyderm.io/@livcomp">Mastodon</a> • <a href="https://www.cs.unm.edu/~ackley/">Website</a></li>
</ul>
Send us <a href="mailto:admin@futureofcoding.org?subject=Email%20from%20a%20listener">email</a>, share your ideas in our <a href="https://futureofcoding.org/community">Slack</a>, and support the show on <a href="http://patreon.com/futureofcoding">Patreon</a>. Yes, do all three please.
http://futureofcoding.org/episodes/70

A romp through the field of computer programming, grapling with our history and wondering what should come next. A mix of deeply technical talk, philosophy, art, dark lore, and good takes. Hosted by Ivan Reese, Jimmy Miller, and Lu Wilson.

A romp through the field of computer programming, grapling with our history and wondering what should come next. A mix of deeply technical talk, philosophy, art, dark lore, and good takes. Hosted by <a href="https://ivanish.ca/">Ivan Reese</a>, <a href="https://jimmyhmiller.github.io/">Jimmy Miller</a>, and <a href="https://todepond.com/">Lu Wilson</a>.

Feeling of Computing

An imaginative, ruminative romp through the land of poisoned sand. What even are computers, where did they come from, and how might we make them radically different. Hosted by Ivan Reese, Jimmy Miller, and Lu Wilson.

An imaginative, ruminative romp through the land of poisoned sand. What even are computers, where did they come from, and how might we make them radically different. Hosted by <a href="https://ivanish.ca/">Ivan Reese</a>, <a href="https://jimmyhmiller.github.io/">Jimmy Miller</a>, and <a href="https://todepond.com/">Lu Wilson</a>.

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